Bullying father ordered to pay daughter €83,000

A Gozo court has ordered a man to pay his daughter €83,000 after it had found him to have caused her permanent psychological problems through cruelty and neglect, ending proceedings filed by the daughter in 2008.

In denying the allegations, the father had alleged that the woman’s mother, from whom he was estranged and legally separated, was manipulating her.

The woman, however, had testified to her father’s slothful, abusive and occasionally violent behaviour. Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri was told that he had subjected the family, and her in particular, to mental cruelty. Her studies suffered as a result and the woman had only obtained her O-levels at the age of 20.

Her mother had confirmed her testimony, and a former teacher had told the court that while still a young girl, the woman had shown symptoms of anxiety at school.

A court-appointed psychologist had reported that the father was likely to be suffering from Paranoid Personality Disorder. The court was told that he had a marked absence of any parenting skills and that his condition would have had a negative impact on his children's self esteem.

The woman had told court-appointed experts that her father would mercilessly ridicule her because she was overweight. He had even composed an offensive rhyme about her weight - "hoxna hoxna qisek katuba, par widnejn kbar qishom qlugh, imniehrek catt, denbu nnukklat, ghal qatla jehduh."

Amongst other memories of abuse, she recalled her father telling her, when her younger sister was born, that he would lock her up on the roof without food and give her toys to the baby.

Magistrate Vella Cuschieri held that the woman had suffered emotional abuse and accepted the reported level of psychological disability, which was calculated by the court-appointed experts, to be eight per cent.

In awarding compensation, the court said that it was in no doubt that psychological disability could gave rise to a similar claim for damages for as a physical disability and ordered the father pay his daughter €82,984 in damages.