Man accused of harassing ex-partner while in custody after allegedly breaking her nose

A man who is already being held in preventive custody for allegedly punching his ex-partner in the face last December was, on Thursday, charged with having bombarded the same woman with repeated phone calls from prison.

Inspector Christian Cauchi arraigned Tyson Bugeja from Birgu before magistrate Astrid May Grima, over a report filed by the woman, with whom he had fathered a daughter, on March 4.

She had told the police that in spite of a number of protection orders, prohibiting Bugeja from contacting the woman, being in force, he had persisted in calling her from prison over the past two months. 

Prison records showed that he placed 20 calls to his ex-partner between March 2 and 3 alone, said the inspector. The man was currently being held on remand and is the subject of several ongoing criminal proceedings where he was the defendant and his ex-partner was the victim.

Inspector Cauchi charged Bugeja with harassment, misuse of telecommunications equipment, breaching two protection orders and three sets of bail conditions, as well as with recidivism.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges. Bail was not requested.

The prosecution asked the court to issue a protection order. 

Bugeja was last arraigned In December 2023, when he was accused of punching the same woman in the face and breaking her nose, after going to her house to ask her whether she was seeing another man. 

At the end of that arraignment Bugeja had been taken to hospital in an ambulance after claiming to be unwell, repeatedly begging not to be sent to prison.

Lawyers Mario Mifsud and George Anton Buttigieg assisted the defendant.