Man accused of threatening to murder ex-partner and son granted bail

A man from Bormla has been released on bail after being accused of threatening to murder his ex-partner and their son.

The 31-year old Freeport employee was arraigned under arrest before magistrate Lara Lanfranco, accused of slightly injuring the woman, threatening her and causing her to fear violence against her and her child. He was also charged with breaching two sets of bail conditions and a separate supervision order.

Police Inspector Christian Cauchi told the court that the woman had reported the defendant as having punched her in the eye at her residence in June, during an argument over access to the son. The injuries had been certified by a doctor as slight.

Last month the woman had given the defendant the keys to her home while she was accompanying the son to hospital. She had returned to find the medical certificate relating to her eye injury missing. The police had later confirmed that it had been issued by contacting the doctor who had seen her.

The inspector explained that on 28 July, the defendant had gone to the woman’s home in Bormla, where he threatened to “slit her with a knife from her private parts all the way up to her mouth” and warning her that if she wouldn’t allow him to spend time with his son, he would kill him too.

During questioning, he had denied doing so and showed the police a number of emails he had received from the woman, the inspector confirmed, when asked about this by defence lawyer Franco Debono.

The court was told that the man is currently on bail in relation to two ongoing proceedings and had previously been handed a 3-year probation order in a similar case.

The defendant filed a not guilty plea and requested bail, informing the court that he was currently living with his sister in a separate residence in Bormla.

Inspector Cauchi objected to the bail request, explaining that at this stage, the alleged victim had not yet testified and stressing that the man had already been convicted of similar crimes as recently as last February. All this led the police to have concerns about his trustworthiness, the inspector said.

At that point, Debono pointed out that the woman was also present in the courtroom, following the arraignment, arguing that there was no impediment to the court hearing her testimony immediately.  The lawyer said that the case was not as straightforward as it had been made to appear, and asked the inspector to confirm the context which the incident had taken place in.

It emerged that the defendant had told the police that the woman had been taunting him with messages about other men whom she claimed to be seeing. The police inspector confirmed this, requesting that a protection order be issued should bail be granted.

The man appeared to consent to the suggestion that he temporarily waive his access rights to the child to avoid any problems, 

The court upheld the request for bail, prohibiting the man from contacting the alleged victim or child, also ordering him to sign bail book four times a week and observe a curfew. 

His bail was secured by a €1,000 deposit and a €5,000 personal guarantee. The court also imposed a protection order in favour of both the woman and the son they have in common.

A ban on the publication of the names of the involved parties was imposed..

Lawyers Franco Debono and Adreana Zammit assisted the defendant.