A court has acquitted a motorist of running over an unaccompanied 8-year-old boy in a busy arterial road but nevertheless fined the man €1,000 for negligent driving.

The incident dates back to the evening of June 4, 2012 when the accused, Gilbert Scerri, 38, of St Paul’s Bay was driving through Telgħet Raħal Ġdid, Paola.

At the time of the incident the victim and his underage brother were both unaccompanied by an adult, as their mother was attending a meeting in preparation for his holy communion.

It transpired that the two brothers had left their keys at a nearby football pitch and were on their way back to retrieve them.

After negotiating their way through stationary vehicles on one of the carriageways which was jammed with traffic, they crossed the other half of the road, only to notice the defendant’s car when they were right in front of it.

Though the victim dashed to the other side and managed to step onto to the pavement, he was hit on his other leg.

He subsequently lost his balance and suffered serious facial injuries including a number of lacerations. The incident occurred a few metres away from a zebra crossing.

The accused insisted that he only saw the minors at the last moment, and that they were hardly visible due to their short height. He also floated the idea that the victim could have slipped on dust by the side of the road, and injured his face on that.

Mr Scerri insisted that he did not hear any impact with the car, and that it left no permanent marks on the vehicle.

In its decision, the court presided by Magistrate Josette Demicoli said that both parties were partly to blame for this incident. It noted that as a pedestrian, the victim was bound to be careful when crossing such a busy road. Furthermore, he could have made use of the nearby zebra crossing.

On the other hand, the Magistrate pointed out that the motorist had a good view of the road and was not speeding. The court remarked that in the absence of their mother, the minors should still have been accompanied by an adult.

The defendant was however to blame for not keeping a proper lookout, especially in view of the fact that by his own admission there were no other cars obstructing the view in front of him. For this reason the accused could not claim that he saw the minors crossing the road at the very last moment, the court said.

Consequently, the court fined Mr Scerri €1,000 for negligent driving and ordered the immediate suspension of his driving licence for eight days.