Suspended sentence for man who assaulted partner over infidelity suspicions

A 34-year-old man from Senglea has been sentenced to imprisonment for two years, suspended for three, after being found guilty of having beaten up his partner in a jealous rage, in June 2014.

The couple’s six-month-old child had been in the same room during the assault.

The court had been told how, suspecting infidelity on the part of his partner, the man had repeatedly punched and kicked the woman’s chest and side, inflicting injuries which were classified as slight. He was also found to have caused €2,500 worth of damages to her car in the same incident.

The case came to light after the victim had filed a report at the Cospicua police station. Inspector Robert Said Sarreo had testified that the woman had gone to the station at around 8pm on June 5, 2014, to report that her partner had kicked and punched her and had also damaged her car.

The inspector had brought the accused in for questioning, in October that year. After refusing legal assistance, the man had released a statement, saying that he and his partner would argue sometimes because of messages that the woman would receive on her phone, which led him to suspect that the woman was seeing someone else.

The man had admitted that during the argument in question, he had hit the woman and had damaged her car, but insisted that some of the damage listed in the survey report - namely dents to the car’s roof and bumper, had already been there before the incident and had not been caused by him.

The prosecution had also exhibited the man’s criminal record, showing that he had several previous convictions for various criminal offences.

The court was told that the argument had started after the woman came back home late, after going shopping, and had seen the accused browsing her mobile phone and accusing her of being unfaithful to him.

On the witness stand, the accused had said he was unable to remember anything about the incident, apart from having punched the car’s roof and door.

Finding the man guilty of the charges, Magistrate Nadine Lia said that the charges were proven by the evidence tendered in court. Noting that the man had several previous convictions for violent crimes, spanning from 2007 to 2013.

The court deplored the fact that the crime had been committed by a father against the mother of his daughter, when he should have been setting a good example. It also noted that the man had shown no remorse for his actions, nor had he apologised to his victim, or even paid for the damage he caused to her vehicle.

Besides the suspended sentence, the man was ordered to pay the victim €2,880 for the damage he had caused to her car.

Inspector Daryl Far prosecuted.