A 30-year-old man from Mosta was acquitted of trying to seriously injure his brothers but was conditionally discharged for using a bulldozer to hit his siblings’ van.

The case happened in February 2011 when Stephen Tonna was involved in an argument with his brothers, Joseph and Reno, over a field where they used to store construction equipment.

The brothers had been arguing for a long time over business and, occasionally, there were flare-ups too, the court heard.

On the day in question, the accused said he wanted to get a truck out of the field but was first blocked by another truck and then by a van, so he used a bulldozer to try to move both vehicles out of the way.

He denied driving the machine in the direction of his brothers and insisted that the only reason why he tried to move the two vehicles was because he had work to do.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke noted that the alleged victims gave conflicting versions of what had happened.

She found Stephen Tonna guilty of damaging the truck and the van and conditionally discharged him for two years.