Even a 40-foot trailer isn't safe on an island where bushes are stolen from roundabouts

The Times – 26 January

Former national footballer guilty of handling stolen trailer

Former premier league and national team footballer Darrin Debono was last week given a suspended sentence for handling a stolen 40-foot refrigeration trailer, after the Magistrates’ Court had originally acquitted him of the charge.

Darrin Debono, who used to play with Valletta and Sliema Wanderers and was a defender for Malta, had his acquittal reversed after the appeals court ruled that the first court had not evaluated the evidence correctly. Mr Debono retired from the premier league around three years ago but yesterday debuted for first division strugglers San Ġwann.

The trailer had been stolen from the car park in front of the Maria Addolorata Cemetery in Paola in October 2001. It was sold to Francis Zammit who then sold it on to a Malcolm Dimech, who bought it for the fish shop where he worked, Il-Brazzol Fish Shop in San Ġwann. The shop is owned by Mr Debono. In that sale the trailer was bought for €466 when, according to its owners, it was worth €13,514.

The police said Mr Debono could not give a reasonable explanation of how he came to own the trailer so he was charged with its theft and with handling stolen property. In court, he claimed he did not know it had been stolen, adding that he did not register it because the price was very good and he did not want to go through all the “problems and formalities”.

The Magistrates’ Court acquitted him of both charges but the Attorney General’s office felt the ruling was not based on a correct interpretation of the facts and filed an appeal. The Court of Criminal Appeal, presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, ruled that Mr Debono should have realised, using common sense, that the trailer had been stolen, especially in the circumstances. He found him guilty of handling stolen property and gave him a two-year jail term suspended for four.