A ground fireworks festival left a 13-year-old boy with a serious eye injury after burning debris flew off and hit him in the eye, a court heard yesterday.

Kurt Connor fell to the ground crying “my eyes, my eyes”, policeman Carmel Debattista testified.

The officer immediately called an ambulance and the boy was taken to hospital where he was found to have a tear on his cornea, a cut on his eye lid and an inflamed retina.

Mr Debattista took the witness stand in the case against Manwel Farrugia, 68, of Lija, a fireworks licence holder, who is pleading not guilty to seriously injuring the boy through negligence.

The incident took place on the granaries during the Malta Festival of Ground Fireworks on April 25 last year at around 11 p.m.

The executive secretary of the Floriana local council, Kenneth Brincat, went through some logistical procedures during the hearing, pointing out that the council had called for applications from fireworks factories to display their work on the Granaries.

They chose the factories and determined the performance sequence by lot. The council was responsible for the permits related to holding the festival while the participants applied for permits that would allow them to let off the fireworks.

Mr Brincat insisted that the council had abided by police orders and the regulations regarding barriers and the crowd’s distance from the fireworks.

Police Inspector James Grech prosecuted.

Lawyers Michael Falzon and Edward Zammit Lewis appeared for Mr Farrugia.

The case continues.