Woman charged with slashing partner's chest with kitchen knife

A 46 year-old woman from Hamrun has been charged with attempted grievous bodily harm after allegedly slashing her partner’s chest with a kitchen knife during a domestic argument.

Before magistrate Nadine Lia this afternoon, Inspector Audrey Micallef also charged the woman, who works as a cleaner, with slight bodily harm, threatening the man with a knife, threatening and insulting the man, exceeding the limits of provocation and breaching the peace.

The court heard how the accused had slashed her male partner’s chest with the 20cm long blade after the two had a row. This was not the first time that the woman had been charged with assaulting her partner: in a previous case she had been accused of winding a belt around his neck.

Lawyer Charmaine Cherrett, appearing as legal aid counsel, entered a plea of not guilty and requested bail.

Inspector Micallef objected to bail, arguing that the victim had not testified yet and this meant that there was a risk of her tampering with evidence. The woman had been interrogated in July over a report by the same victim, said the inspector. She had been released on police bail and ordered not to approach the accused, but today’s charges show that she had clearly done so anyway.

Cherrett said that the aggression was reciprocal. “This is a 5 year relationship, they were living in Hamrun but she had moved out to her mother’s in Bugibba. She works full time as a cleaner and could lose her job if not granted bail. She is to benefit from the overriding presumption of evidence,” said the lawyer, pointing out that the court could impose any condition it sees fit on her whilst she is on bail.

The court after seeing the criminal code said that at this stage the accused could not be considered as a trustworthy person and there is a real fear of interference with the evidence. Bail was refused at this stage. The court urged the prosecution to summon its witnesses soon and issued a protection order over the man, pending the outcome of the proceedings.