The driver and passengers who drove and smashed into stone planters outside a popular restaurant in Siġġiewi have owned up and replaced the planters they destroyed.

On Monday, the owners of Marilù’s posted CCTV footage taken on Sunday evening which shows a silver pick-up truck stopping, reversing and turning towards the pavement as it continued to drive into the stone planters outside the restaurant.

One passenger was seen laughing as the vehicle crashed into a second planter.

The video made headlines, and many condemned what appeared to be an act of vandalism.

In a social media post on Tuesday, the restaurant owners gave a lengthy update on the "broken pots saga", alongside a video showing the people removing the destroyed planters and replacing them with new ones.

“Following our post, the perpetrators owned up and admitted to the incident assuring police investigators that the incident was neither intentional malicious intent nor vandalism,” the owners wrote.

The perpetrators reached out to the owners and apologised, and it was agreed they would replace the vintage Maltese ħwat (planters). 

The owners said that the driver and his friends got the stone slabs and built the planters in their garage, putting them in place on Monday night.

“We wish to believe them in benefit of the little hope there’s left in the world. Life is about choice. The choices we make as a community, as an individual or the choices that define us,” the owners said.

They thanked the police, the Siġġiewi community and many others who reached out to them. The owners said many in Siġġiewi offered them their CCTV footage and words of support.

"There are many good people out there... We hope this raised a bit of awareness on how nice it is to be nice and to protect even the simplest form of effort in decorating a community space, with respect to everyone around."