A 59-year-old minibus driver has lost his appeal against a five-year prison term handed down for defiling schoolchildren on the trip home.

Joseph Leone Ganado had been convicted on June 15, 2011, some six years after the incidents took place.

The attacks happened during the 20-minute ride home in his minibus from the children’s school in Rabat.

One particular girl was very naughty on the bus and the driver would sometimes keep her next to him on the front seat and grab different parts of her body, the court was told.

Other children were defiled by Mr Leone Ganado in the same way.

Mr Justice Michael Mallia confirmed the judgment and said the Magistrates’ Court had sentenced Mr Leone Ganado correctly.

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