A man previously convicted of a handbag theft was acquitted today after an appeals court found that the original judgment had overlooked important details.

In  November 2014, Allan Micallef and an accomplice had been sentenced to one year in jail suspended to three years for stealing a handbag containing a Nokia phone worth €200 and €23 in cash.

The alleged theft dated back to October 2007, when the police grew suspicious after seeing the accused carrying a woman’s handbag metres away from Ħamrun police station.

A short while later, a woman claiming that her handbag had gone missing from her car while she was taking her daughter to school entered the station.

The accused had insisted he had found the item next to the vehicle, close to the primary school and was on his way to report the lost item to the police.

In its decision, the Appeals Court presided by Giovanni Grixti noted that the woman had testified leaving the car locked, contrary to what she had told the police.

Moreover, the police officer who had raised the alarm had initially said he saw the accomplice carrying the stolen item, only to correct himself saying that it was the accused.

The Appeals Court found it quite unusual that someone who had just stolen a handbag would carry it with him towards the police station, rather than take its contents, dispose of it and move away.

Consequently, Mr Justice Grixti revoked the first court’s decision and declared Mr Micallef not guilty. Lawyer Lucio Sciriha was defence counsel whereas police inspector Nezren Grixti prosecuted.