Sliema residents wake up to find cars vandalised

A number of Sliema residents got a nasty surprise yesterday morning when they found their cars vandalised with an acidic substance, possibly paint remover.

The cars were parked around a block in St Vincent Street, Annunciation Street, Annunciation Square and Castilletti Street. Between 20 and 30 cars were vandalised and many of them also had their tyres deflated.

One resident said that a neighbour rang her doorbell and asked her to check her car at around 2.10 a.m. after the neighbour had heard some noises coming from the street earlier.

She said she had not been home long as she had just returned from a wedding but it was then that she found her car to be damaged by the paint remover.

Another resident, George Debattisa, who lives in St Vincent Street, said he woke up to go to work in the morning and thought he had a flat tyre. He then saw the second deflated tyre and mistook the paint mess on his car for vomit.

He then realised what had happened and called someone at work to pick him up. He later arranged for a mobile repair service to call at the area and help the residents whose cars had had their tyres deflated.

The police were informed about the matter early in the morning. The duty magistrate was informed and court mechanical expert Joe Zammit was appointed to assist in the investigations. Police investigators included PS Martin Cordina and PC Michael Pace.

No figure has been put to the total cost of the damage yet but some of the cars will have to be sprayed all over.