Man who dragged former partner by the hair out of her mother’s house remanded in custody

A man who had been granted bail five times since 2017 was remanded in custody on Friday on domestic violence charges.

The man, who is not being named in order to avoid potentially subjecting the woman to secondary victimisation, was hauled to court after having allegedly dragged his partner by the hair from the upper floor of her mother’s house to his car.

Inspector Omar Zammit arraigned the 33-year-old car dealer and showroom owner from Paola before magistrate Nadia-Helena Vella, accusing him of causing slight injuries to the woman, who is the mother of his children, giving her reason to fear that he would be violent towards her, assaulting and threatening the woman and holding her against her will.

The court was told how on May 8, at around noon, the defendant’s partner had filed a domestic violence report at police headquarters in Floriana, in which she claimed that his behaviour towards her over the past three days led her to fear for her safety.

The couple had previously fallen out and had spent the previous six weeks living apart. On the day of the incident, the defendant had driven to his former mother-in-law’s house in Senglea, where his ex-partner was staying and demanded that she go home with him.

When the woman refused, the defendant allegedly went upstairs, found the woman and dragged her by the hair, out of the house and into his car. He then drove her to his home.

In reply to questions from defence lawyer Franco Debono, who is assisting the man together with lawyer Marion Camilleri, the inspector confirmed that the woman’s injuries were classified as slight and that the defendant had cooperated with the police.

The man was arrested while signing one of his bail books at the police station, added the inspector.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges. The prosecution objected to the defence’s request for bail, pointing at the grave nature of the charges and the fact that the victim and other witnesses were yet to testify.

Moreover, the defendant had already been released on bail several times, argued the prosecution. The oldest of those five sets of conditions relate to charges of aggravated drugs possession dating back to 2017; his most recent ones had been issued in August 2023, in connection with an arson attack on a boat. The man had not proven himself to be trustworthy, argued the inspector.

The court, having heard the submissions on bail, upheld the prosecution’s arguments and ordered the man be remanded in custody.