A man accused of operating an unlicensed casino from a Marsa garage 12 years ago has been let off the hook over a technical error by the prosecution, which indicated the wrong address in the charges. 

Raymond Schembri, now 60, was targeted in a raid by police who turned up at the unnumbered garage in Marsa one October afternoon in 2011. 

Following that raid, Schembri was charged with operating an unlicensed casino, allowing the premises to be used for illegal betting without the necessary permit by the relative authority. 

He pleaded not guilty to the raft of charges. 

When the case reached the judgment stage on Wednesday, the court pointed out an error in the charges which the prosecution had failed to correct. 

While the charges stated that the alleged illegal activities took place in a new street in Triq it-Tigrija, all prosecution witnesses referred to an unnumbered garage on a new street in Triq is-Serkin. 

All witnesses described the raid, which took place at around 3.30pm on October 24, 2011, at the garage on Triq is-Serkin. 

Citing jurisprudence concerning a similar error, but with respect to the time of the allegations rather than the place, the court, presided over by Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, declared that the principle was one and the same. 

In this case, the prosecution never corrected the error in the address. 

Nor did it produce evidence to explain why the charges referred to that address when witnesses testified that the activities took place elsewhere. 

Moreover, two of the charges were contraventional in nature and thus time-barred upon the lapse of three months. 

In light of such considerations, the court pronounced an acquittal. 

Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were defence counsel. 

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