Eight committee members of the Naxxar Peace Band club were cleared of storing explosive material in the club's basement after a magistrate heard how none of them knew the fireworks were kept there.
Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera also noted that none of the eight members had access to the basement - where the explosives were found in a hidden room behind a cupboard - and none were involved in organising fireworks for the village feast.
On these grounds she cleared the eight members: president Carmel Grech, secretary Victor Gauci, youth director Louis Bugeja, assistant secretary Edward Azzopardi, women's section director Mary Chetcuti, band delegate Anthony Cauchi, treasurer Joseph Martin Camilleri and NGO coordinator Raymond Chetcuti.
They had been arraigned together with another three committee members - Ivan Gauci, David Sammut and Joseph Buhagiar - whose case is still pending.
Another man - Mark Aguis, the club administrator - had been charged separately and jailed for two years. His appeal is pending.
The magistrate heard Police Inspector Nikolai Sant testify how, on March 12 2008, there had been an explosion in Triq Hal Dghejf in Naxxar. Two people died in the blast. One was Paul Camilleri, 47, who is believed to have caused the explosion as a result of fireworks stored there. His residence neighboured the house of 35-year-old mother of two Sina Sammut - the second victim.
Inspector Sant said that, after the March 12 explosion, he received information about explosives were stored at the band club. During a search in the basement, on May 3 that year, police found a hidden small room behind a cupboard. Inside there were boxes filled with explosives.
Investigations resulted that David Sammut had a key to the basement and Ivan Gauci, Mr Buhagiar and Mr Agius had copies.
The inspector added that investigations also led him to concluded that there was no link between the explosives found there and the March 12 blast.
Under cross examination he said that Paul Camilleri was a feast enthusiast but he was not involved in making fireworks for the feast. He did not rule out that Mr Camilleri may have been manufacturing fireworks to use in case the Labour Party won the general elections that were held on March 8 - four days before the blast. (The Nationalist Party won that election).
The magistrate noted that the eight committee members involved in this case (none of who had a copy of the key) issued a statement to police and chose not to testify. In their statements they all said they did not know that the explosives were stored in the basement of the band club and that their role on the committee had nothing to do with fireworks.