Bus drivers acquitted of bus strike incident

Silvio Borg, 39, George Psaila, 42, Denis Desira, 38 and Wayne Desira, 18, all bus drivers, were today found not guilty of gathering in a group of 10 or more people to commit a crime with the intention to scare people. They were also acquitted of disobeying police orders.

A fifth bus driver Paul Caruana, 31 was fined €56 for disobeying police orders.

They were taken to court after an incident during the public transport strike in 2008, The men drove down to the Valletta Waterfront in a car at the same time as an incident happened when a taxi was stopped from picking up a tourist.

The five men were ordered by the police to turn back and leave the area.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said that she found nothing in the evidence that proved that the men had gathered in a group to commit a crime.

She also did not find that they had gathered in a group to scare people.

She found Mr Caruana the driver of their vehicle, guilty of disobeying police orders after he failed to obey orders to leave the area.