A man charged with illegal gambling following a police raid in Marsa almost 15 years ago has been cleared of all charges, because the address cited on his charge sheet did not match that which witnesses testified about.

The man, 44-year-old Santa Venera resident Raymond Schembri, was charged in July 2007 with having participated in and promoted illicit gambling activities at a site in Sqaq Ġerrej in Marsa. He was one of 12 people charged in connection with the case.

His case languished in the courts for several years, after the magistrate initially assigned the case died.  It was finally concluded last week, when the court noted some glaring discrepancies in the case presented by the prosecution.

While Schembri had been charged with committing crimes in Sqaq Ġerrej, police officers who testified mentioned different addresses in Marsa: inspectors told the court about a raid on a site at Triq is-Serkin while a Malta Tourism Authority representative spoke of a bar at Triq l-Istalel.

The prosecution had at no point sought to clarify this confusion or correct any errors, the court noted. Citing from previous case law, it said that given the discrepancy between the charges as laid out by the prosecution and what witnesses testified to, the accused could not be found guilty of the illegal gambling charges.

Furthermore, the court added, Schembri could not be found guilty of placing a collective illegal bet, because by law a person accused of such a contravention must be notified of it within three months. In this case, documents showed that the accused was only informed of that charge well after that three-month prescription period elapsed.

 Inspector Louise Calleja prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri represented the accused.