Burgles Sta Venera bar

A 27-year-old man was yesterday given a two-year jail term suspended for four years for burgling a bar in Sta Venera 12 years ago.

Noel Frendo was found guilty of stealing cash, alcohol, cigarettes, a radio cassette, a calculator, knives and other items to the detriment of Joseph Galea and other people from Tower Bar in Sta Venera some time between November 29, 1990, at 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. the next day.

He was also found guilty of causing damage at the bar.

Magistrate Abigail Lofaro heard how police found Frendo's fingerprints on an amusement machine and that Frendo never gave a satisfactory explanation of how his prints came to be on the machine but kept insisting that not only had he never been inside the bar but that he never stopped outside it.

Magistrate Lofaro found Frendo guilty of theft but said she had taken into consideration that the police took nine years to arraign him in court and had wasted a lot of time.

Police Inspector Mario Bonnici prosecuted.