Dustbin thrower's sentence reduced

A man given a nine-month jail term suspended for two years for throwing a dustbin down two storeys and onto a car has had his judgement reduced to a conditional discharge on appeal.

The Magistrates' Court had found Jason Micallef, 32, of Naxxar guilty of hurling the bin at the car, trying to seriously injure his wife and daughter and his wife's relatives, injuring them in the process and causing over Lm50 damage to the car on February 12, 2002.

But Micallef appealed claiming that the prosecution had failed to prove his intention to seriously injure anyone. Besides, only his daughter had suffered some form of injuries which were described as "pinpoints" likely to be caused by shattered glass.

After reviewing the case, Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, presiding over the Appeals Court, upheld Micallef's appeal and cleared him of injuring his wife and her relatives.

He also cleared him of trying to seriously injure them and the sentence was reduced to a three-year conditional discharge.