Man accused of slicing wife's fingertip 'had held knife to her throat in the past'

A man who sliced off the tip of his wife’s finger during a domestic dispute last week had held a kitchen knife to her throat some two months before, a court has been told.

This morning, Magistrate Doreen Clarke heard prosecuting Inspector Christabelle Chetcuti relate the results of her investigation so far. Inspector Chetcuti explained how, on the 26 August this year, the police had been called to a residence in Attard after receiving a call for assistance from one of the couple’s children.

Inspector Chetcuti told the court that from her investigations, it appeared that an argument about possible separation proceedings had turned violent when the accused snatched his wife’s iPhone from her hands and broke it.

According to the wife, he then opened a kitchen drawer and took out a knife and threatened her with it. “At one point, the two came together and the tip of her finger was sliced off.”

Panicking at the sight of blood, the accused took his wife to the Mosta Health Centre for treatment.

The wife had told the police that this had not been the first time they had fought, claiming that he had held a knife to her throat when he had found out that she was seeing someone else, some two months before.

At the time of the latest incident the couple had been living at separate addresses, but the wife had visited the matrimonial home to gather some belongings after their daughter’s first Holy Communion. It was during this visit that the argument occurred, said the inspector, adding that the children had corroborated this version of events.

Questioned by the police why she had not reported the previous incident with the knife, the woman had replied that she feared that her children would be taken from her because of her adultery.

The victim and her children had chosen not to testify in the proceedings against the accused, said the prosecution.

The man had been held in preventive custody since his arraignment, being denied bail due to the risk of him approaching or otherwise interfering with witnesses. But in view of the fact that none of them would be testifying, an application for bail had been filed by the defence.

The court was told that the Attorney General had not objected to this application, but had requested a curfew. Defence lawyer Shaheryar Ghaznavi pointed out that this condition would not be practical, given the nature of the man’s work in television, which would involve him working odd hours.

Magistrate Clarke granted the accused bail against a deposit of €5,000 and a €15,000 personal guarantee, also ordering the man to reside at a separate address from his wife. A protection order for the woman was issued.

Lawyers Charlon Gouder and Joseph Gerada also appeared on behalf of the husband, while lawyer Abigail Cretien defended the legal interests of the wife. The  names of the persons involved are not being published by order of the court.