The Magistrates' Court today refused to alter the bail conditions of Maximilian Ciantar, 20 of Marsa, who is accused of having injured twin11-year-old girls in a hit-and-run case in Attard on April 28.

Mr Ciantar had been granted bail against a deposit of €3,000 and a personal guarantee of €20,000 but he had been ordered to stay at Mt Carmel Hospital.

The Court of Criminal Appeal had reduced the personal guarantee to €10,000.

Defence counsel Joseph Brincat argued that once his client was paying his deposit, he should be granted proper bail, rather than be ordered to stay at Mt Carmel Hospital.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke, however, refused the request, pointing out that the accused had a drug problem which he needed to be treated for.

Rebecca Falzon and her twin, Sarah Marie, 11, were crossing the road on April 28 at 7.15 p.m., after their Christian doctrine class, when they were hit by a van.

Earlier in the court hearing today, a witness to the accident, Josette Cardona described how she was driving down the road and had another car in front of her. The car in front of her stopped and she did too. She saw children crossing the zebra crossing.She then saw a white van driving up and saw one of the girls being hit by the van.

The girl was thrown into the air and hit a car in the opposite direction. She also saw another girl being pulled off the road by somebody.

The court was also told today that the most seriously injured of the twins, Rebecca, is still not in a state to testify.

Rebecca was in intensive care for a few days after which she was transferred to Fairyland, the children's ward, near her sister, Sarah, who underwent surgery to her leg, which was broken in the accident.

The twins were released from hospital after spending almost a month in treatment.