Attard Labour councillor John Bonnici said today that he was resigning from the Labour Party following his conviction for having damaged the Attard Church parvis.

He will, however, stay on as a member of Attard local council.

Mr Bonnici said he had not meant to harm anyone, and his actions were meant to facilitate access for people in wheelchairs and those pushing prams during the feast concert.

Other allegations, he said, were false allegations

Mr Bonnici said he had never expected the case to develop in this way, but now he realised that this was planned provocation. In view of the way the PN was acting over this issue, he felt he should resign from the Labour Party.

Mr Bonnici said he had continued to work in the council right up until his arraignment, and no councillor had told him he did not wish to work with him. He would therefore continue to work for everyone's benefit free.

During the arraignment last week Mr Bonnici filed a guilty plea.

The court was told that Mr Bonnici, 62, lost his temper and, using a piece of wood, smashed the stone balustrades that sit on the church parvis and which he promised a number of constituents he would remove.

Police Inspector Elton Taliana said the vandalism was discovered on July 16 last year and when the police questioned Mr Bonnici about it at the time he denied any involvement. Witnesses came forward only recently giving a different account to Mr Bonnici's version, the officer informed the court.

Mr Bonnici's lawyer, Maria Azzopardi, told the court the band club, of which her client was also a committee member, put a lot of pressure on him to have the balustrades removed. She added that the masonry impeded access to disabled people and he had promised a number of constituents that he would remove the balustrades.

Magistrate Edwina Grima, after taking into consideration the admission and the fact that he would pay the council back, handed down a five-month jail term suspended for one year.