A 54-year-old garage operator was acquitted of a charge of receiving stolen property when he appeared in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The accused, Desmond Fisher, was freed of the charge after his attorney Peter Champagnie made a no-case submission on his behalf, at the end of the prosecution’s case.

Fisher was arrested and charged on July 27, 2011 following accusation that he received an engine, four doors and a gearbox belonging to a Hiace minibus, .

It is alleged that the complainant, whose Hiace bus was stolen from her gate, went to the accused man garage under the guise of being a prospective buyer when she allegedly saw the items and summoned the police. When the police went to the premises Fisher was not there but two other men fled the scene. Fisher was subsequently arrested and charged.

In making his no-case submission, Champagnie pointed out that if the serial number was erased or tampered with his client would have been put on alert that the items were stolen. He also argued that his client’s facilitated the police when they came to the garage, suggesting that a guilty man wouldn’t have done so knowing that the parts were still there.

In opposing the application, the Crown argued that the accused man did not offer any explanation for the parts being at his shop and that he should be called upon to answer to the charge.

Senior Resident Magistrate Lyle Armstrong ruled in Fisher’s favour, noting that there was no evidence as to how the man came by the items.