A 58-year-old man who brandished a toy pistol at three young men who, he alleged, were aggressive after a traffic accident, was today  freed by a court on condition that he does not commit another crime within a year.

The court was told that the incident happened on March 16, 2009.

The accused, Saviour Mifsud Bonnici, of Zebbug, had been driving in Pieta when  his car was involved in a small collision near Porte des Bombes with a car driven by Denis Agius, who was accompanied by Shaun Vella and Karl Farrugia.

The two sides gave different versions of what happened after, but the cars followed each other to the Park and Ride at Blata l-Bajda.

At the Park and Ride, Mifsud Bonnici parked besides Agius, got out of his car and asked for his details.

The passengers who were with Mr Agius got out of their car and approached Mr Mifsud Bonnici. One of them threw an ice cream at the accused, hitting him and his car. The accused got scared, went to his car and pulled out a false pistol which he pointed at the three young men, who quickly returned to their car and called the police.

Defence counsel pleaded that Mr Mifsud Bonnici had carried out a citizen's arrest after the other young men had approached him aggressively and shouted all sort of insults at him.

The court said there was no doubt that the accused had arrested the three men.

If the traffic accident took place as claimed, the accused would only have had a right  to 'arrest' Dennis Agius, and not his passengers, and that only immediately the incident took place.

It clearly resulted that the accused had not acted in the way he did because of the traffic accident but because he got scared when he felt he was being intimated by the three men.

However up to that point the three men had not committed a crime.

The court therefore found Mr Mifsud Bonnici guilty of unlawfully holding the three men.

There was no doubt, the court said, that the accused was in possession of a false pistol, but he had not committed a 'crime against the person'.

The court said that it had considered the circumstances which led the accused to act in the way he did, his cooperation with the police and the fact that he had no criminal record.

The accused was therefore freed on condition that he did not commit a crime within a year.