A man arraigned after a 13-year-old lost an eye in a fireworks accident was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Magistrate Edwina Grima said she was not in a position to make a proper assessment of what could have gone wrong when Kurt Connor was injured.

Manwel Farrugia, 71, of Lija, a fireworks licence holder, pleaded not guilty to seriously injuring the boy through negligence.

The incident took place on the Floriana granaries during the Malta Festival of Ground Fireworks on April 25, 2009, at about 11pm.

The teenager was not watching the spectacle and was speaking to friends when a spark flew in his left eye, losing sight in it.

According to a policeman, Carmel Debattista, the boy fell to the ground shouting: “My eyes, my eyes.”

The former executive secretary of the Floriana local council, Kenneth Brincat, had testified the council was responsible for permits to hold the festival while the participants were responsible for permits to let off fireworks.

Mr Brincat insisted the council had abided by police orders and regulations regarding barriers and the distance the crowd should be kept away from the fireworks.

Magistrate Grima lamented that there was not much evidence. She said the court was unable to determine whether Mr Farrugia could be found guilty of negligence.

When reviewing the evidence by the accused explaining the different manufacturing processes, the magistrate said no other testimony on the procedures was produced in court.

Not even the people who physically let off the fireworks were summoned to testify, the court added.

The magistrate also noted that investigations had been stopped for seven months when the police assumed that no insurance compensation would be paid.

What did clearly result, she added in her sentence, was that Mr Farrugia had held the fireworks licence for 40 years and had followed all the festival’s rules and regulations, otherwise he would have been disqualified.

Finally, the magistrate urged the insurance company SMS to make an appropriate payment to the victim.