A company director and the driver of a van from which a schoolgirl fell in 2003 have had their six month effective prison terms overturned on appeal. 

The Appeals Court found that Emanuel Zarb, director of Zarb Coaches Limited, was not to blame for the incident even though he had dispatched two vans to pick up students after school when their coach developed mechanical problems. 

In separate proceedings, the Appeals Court found that a six-month effective jail term imposed on Cedric Sciberras, from Birkirkara, was too harsh a punishment for someone with a clean criminal record. 

The court was ruling on appeals both filed from the 2010 judgment in which both had been jailed for six months each for their responsibility, through negligence, for the traffic accident that almost claimed the life of a 13-year-old schoolgirl. 

Daliborka Vrhovac, had suffered grievous injuries when the rear door of a van opened suddenly and she fell off the vehicle on the Regional Road on October 9, 2003, at about 3pm. 

As a result of the incident she spent a month in hospital. She suffered fractures in several parts of her body, disfigurement, loss of all her teeth, spinal injuries and a partial loss of hearing.

The court found that the girl had been standing in the van because it was overloaded.

The schoolchildren told the court said that there were 26 students in the van - which was registered to carry not more than 10 passengers.

They said that the driver had been using a mobile phone, although he was not speeding. At one time the children were thrown back and the rear door opened.

The court found that Mr Zarb was the person who had dispatched two vans to collect the 26 school children. However, not to leave any children behind even though he knew that a second van was on the way, Mr Sciberras loaded all into his van that was a special purpose vehicle with a tail lift, that was meant to carry wheelchairs. 

Mr Justice Michael Mallia said that Mr Sciberras's decision to allow all students onto his minivan was "deplorable" as he had allowed onto his mini-bus more than twice the number of passengers which the van was licensed for.

But given that the injured girl had received compensation from the insurance firm and his clean criminal record, it was too harsh a punishment. He therefore suspended the six-month jail term for two years. 

With regard to Mr Zarb, Mr Justice Mallia ruled that Mr Zarb had dispatched two minivans and was not to blame if Mr Sciberras took a unilateral decision to load all students on a van that was not meant to carry so many students. He therefore cleared him of the charges brought against him.

Lawyer Joe Giglio appeared for Mr Zarb while lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo appeared for Mr Sciberras.