Bag of cash and weighing scales from drugs case not tested for fingerprints

A black bag containing cash and electronic weighing scales, allegedly found on an individual who was arrested just before an alleged drug deal, was never given to forensic experts for fingerprint testing, a court heard on Wednesday.  

The black bag, which a forensic expert said he had not received for examination, contained some €9,330 in cash.  

Jurors were later told that no fingerprints were found on a separate paper bag and plastic bags containing 1,940 ecstasy pills.  

The trial against Rio Micallef from Marsa, Naxxar resident David Tabone and Darren James Vella from Birkirkara, who stand accused of multiple counts of drug trafficking, entered its third day on Wednesday. They are all denying the charges.  

Forensic expert and police officer Patrick Farrugia detailed the different methods used to lift fingerprints, explaining that differing types of plastics were tested in varying ways.   

The ecstasy pills retrieved by police officers after the arrests in September 2008 were found inside plastic bags within a paper bag.

The bags were emptied and handed over to the forensic expert for testing, who said he found no fingerprints on the items.

Defence lawyer Jacob Magri, assisting Tabone, cross-examined Farrugia and asked him whether he would have been able to analyse the set of electronic weighing scales for fingerprints.

Farrugia immediately said, “I did not get this exhibit”, before confirming he would have been able to carry out the necessary fingerprint tests had the scales been sent to the laboratory for analysis.

Fielding questions from jurors, the expert explained that the success rate of obtaining a fingerprint from an item depended on many variables, including temperature, humidity and how the item had been handled.

Technical issues

While the afternoon session was scheduled to begin at 3pm, the first hour saw different court staff trying to fix a court display screen to allow former police sergeant Johan Micallef to testify via video conference.

Technical staff were then called back to fix an audio issue that had left only one of the court microphones working.

When the issue was finally fixed, defence lawyer Alex Scerri Herrera requested the court order the witness to remove the background filter being used, stressing it was important for them to understand whether there were other people present.

The whole ordeal lasted an hour.

Before the jurors were led into the courtroom, Madam Justice Edwina Grima directed Micallef on what he could testify regarding as some evidence had been declared inadmissible during the preliminary pleas stage before the jury began.

When Micallef finally testified, he told the court that police had carried out the arrests following a tip-off that then-assistant commissioner Neil Harrison had received from a source.

On the day of the arrests, a constable informed Micallef about having spotted Tabone driving a car. The constable followed the accused while Micallef travelled in a separate car, maintaining constant communication with his colleague.

Tabone picked up Vella and drove towards Butterfly bar in Birkirkara where fellow accused Rio Micallef was waiting in a separate car.

Rio Micallef and Tabone drove their vehicles to Old Church Street in Birkirkara and stopped at the entrance of a garage complex.

Arrests

The witness recalled that Rio Micallef had recognised him despite him not wearing a uniform at the time. “He looked into my eyes, gave me a good look and then he started running,” the former sergeant said.

“I pulled up the handbrake, got out of my car, I don’t even recall whether I closed the door, and ran after him,” he recalled.

“I told him: ‘Rio, stop, stop ... Rio, stop, or else I will have to shoot,’” Micallef recalled, adding the accused finally stopped when he and the constable who had been following the suspects closed on him at a crossroad.

A phone was found on Rio Micallef and seized by the officers.

The three of them then returned to the crime scene where the other two suspects had also been arrested.

Micallef recalled that then police constable Carmen Gauci, who testified yesterday telling the court she could not remember anything due to personal circumstances, had given him a bag which Tabone had in his possession at the time of his arrest. She also showed him the contents of the bag – the money and the set of electronic scales – he said.

The former sergeant said the bag was black in colour with some gray on it, adding he had handed it back to Gauci. She also handed him a phone that she had seized from Tabone, which he returned to her. Micallef was not present for Tabone’s arrest and search.

Inside Rio Micallef’s car, the former sergeant found €395 in the suspect’s wallet and another mobile phone. He said he did not recall seeing the accused throwing anything away, adding the bag containing the drugs was collected by forensics.

The trial by jury of the three men resumes on Thursday morning.

Lawyers Godwin Cini, Danika Vella and Kevin Valletta prosecuted.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jacob Magri appeared for David Tabone. Lawyers José Herrera and Alex Scerri Herrera assisted Rio Micallef. Lawyers Matthew Xuereb and Michael Sciriha assisted Darren James Vella.

Madam Justice Edwina Grima is presiding over the trial.