Trio plead not guilty to February Luqa hobby store heist, granted bail

Three men have denied committing a burglary at a Luqa hobby store in February.

Police inspectors Keith Rizzo and Antonello Magri, together with prosecutor Claire Sammut, arraigned the three 39-year-olds, from Santa Venera and Qormi before magistrate Lara Lanfranco on Friday. 

Wayne Delia was charged with theft, aggravated by value, criminal damage and breaching previous bail conditions, while twin brothers Gordon and Stephen Cassar were accused of complicity in the thefts. All three were also charged with recidivism. 

Delia is no stranger to the courts, having been arraigned over a violent robbery in 2011 and an arson attack on a yacht in 2022. Gordon and Stephen Cassar are also known to the police, having been charged with a string of handbag thefts targeting elderly women in 2019..

Inspector Rizzo explained that at around 3:00am on February 27 this year, a police patrol in Luqa had noticed two suspicious persons who fled when the police approached. 

Officers gave chase and observed one of the men drop the stolen cash register and mobile tablet. The policemen managed to taser and arrest that suspect, who was later identified as Delia, while the other man managed to escape. The Cassar siblings were identified later during the investigation and subsequently arrested on the strength of a court-issued warrant, and also re-arrested Delia, who had since been released on police bail.

All three defendants pleaded not guilty. Lawyer Yanika Barbara Sant, assisting the Cassar twins and Delia’s lawyer, Daniel Attard, asked the court to grant bail to their respective clients.

The prosecution objected to the Cassars brothers being released from arrest, arguing that doing so would jeopardise the preservation of evidence and pointing to their brothers’ criminal records as evidence that they were untrustworthy.

An objection was also registered with regards to Delia, who besides having a colourful criminal record was also being accused of breaching bail conditions imposed by this court. This showed that he was inclined not to follow them, the prosecution argued.

Barbara Sant countered, telling the court that her clients, the Cassars, had always observed and honoured their bail conditions and had never been charged with breaching bail. 

The court should not be overly impressed by the men’s criminal records, added the lawyer, stressing that Criminal Court jurisprudence had established that bail should not be denied solely on the basis that the applicant had a criminal record. The legislator did not discriminate between clean and soiled criminal records for the purposes of granting bail, but had left that to the discretion of the courts, said the lawyer.

There was little evidence that could be preserved at this point because the alleged crime had taken place six months ago, in February, she pointed out, which meant that the prosecution had “all the time in the world” to preserve the evidence, and her clients the same time to destroy it.

Both brothers had put their drug abuse days behind them and were now on the right path, with that progress potentially being undone if they were to be denied bail.

The defendants had been in a totally different situation at the time, argued Barbara Sant, adding that they were now gainfully employed and one of them had rented a property with his partner, who is unemployed and would be unable to afford the rent if he were to be remanded in custody.

The court heard the defendants’ partners testify for the purposes of bail, all of whom told the court that their respective partners had changed for the better and had worked hard to overcome their drug problems, while confirming that the defendants would reside with them if released on bail.

The court upheld the bail request, stressing that it was only doing so because the alleged offences took place in February and so as not to undo the progress they had made in their lives. “If you breach your bail, that will be entirely on you,” warned the magistrate.

The men were released from arrest, their bail set at a €1,000 deposit and a €7,000 personal guarantee. They were also ordered to observe a curfew and sign a bail book at regular intervals.

Lawyer Yanika Barbara Sant assisted the Cassar brothers, while lawyer Daniel Attard was counsel to Delia.