Hawkers cleared of fraud charges

Two hawkers were yesterday cleared of fraud after a magistrate ruled that although CDs found in their possession were copies there had been no tampering of a mark or emblem of the original product.

The two hawkers, a 44-year-old woman and her 19-year-old son, were originally charged with commercial fraud and breaching copyright in Valletta in April 2002.

In a preliminary judgement handed down in December 2002, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera cleared the two of breaching copyright after lawyer Joseph Giglio, for the accused, argued that since there had been no formal complaint the charge did not hold.

On evaluating the evidence the magistrate noted that the two accused had offered copies of CDs for sale and, although it was wrong to sell copies, both accused could not be found guilty of fraud as charged by the prosecution.

Names are not being published to protect the identity of the boy who was 16 at the time of the commission of the crime.

Police Inspector Joseph Cordina prosecuted.