Fgura garage explosion ruled accidental

A Tarxien man has been fined Lm200 for illegally storing explosives in a Fgura garage but cleared of involuntarily causing damage to neighbouring buildings after a magistrate ruled that the explosion in the garage had been accidental.

Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona cleared 46-year-old Edgar Grima of causing more than Lm1,000 damage to the detriment of several people after hearing that court experts had concluded that the explosion had been caused when flammable fuel vapour reacted with oxygen. The reaction had been sparked when an electric chaser was switched on.

Grima was also cleared of manufacturing fireworks in a residential area and lying under oath as the magistrate ruled that he was not under oath when he spoke to a court expert at St Luke's Hospital on June 20, 2002.

Magistrate Micallef Trigona found him guilty of storing explosives without a licence and keeping explosives based on potassium chloride in Fgura on June 7, 2002. For this he was fined Lm200.

Police Inspector Jesmond Borg prosecuted.