Woman claims her family threatened to have her killed if she dropped domestic violence charges

A 25-year-old Syrian man has been released on bail despite being charged with beating his wife and threatening to kill her, after the woman told the court that her parents had forced her to lie about him on pain of death.

The defendant, a Marsaskala resident who said he worked in construction, was arraigned before Magistrate Jean Paul Grech on Thursday by Police Inspector Sherona Buhagiar.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting and threatening the woman.

The court was told that the Domestic Violence unit had started investigating after being informed by a lawyer that the woman was being beaten and threatened by her husband.

When she had been spoken to by the police, she appeared terrified of her husband and confirmed having been beaten and threatened. She was assessed as being at high risk of being murdered, said the inspector.

Inspector Buhagiar added that yesterday evening, the woman had called the Domestic Violence Unit and told the inspector that she wanted to drop the charges.

Testifying with the assistance of an Arabic language interpreter, the woman claimed to have been forced to lie to the police about the man by her parents, who opposed the marriage. If she failed to comply, her parents had told her they would hire a hitman to kill her, she said.

“My parents told me to tell the police that if my husband gets out of prison, I would commit suicide,” she said.

When cross-examined by defence lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jacob Magri, who asked the woman about the threat to her life, she repeated that the threat had come from her parents in Germany and not the defendant.

“I told the inspector yesterday that I love him [the defendant] and I don’t want to leave him,” she said.

The woman’s courtroom declaration evidently came as a surprise to the prosecution, with Inspector Buhagiar telling the court that the woman had never mentioned this before and had spoken to social workers about the abuse at such length that the resulting report was five pages long.

“I am going to stop her here, because what she is saying is not true. [Her statement] is all recorded on bodycam. It is not true, Mr. Magistrate,” repeated the inspector.

Magri asked the witness why she had not mentioned the threat from her parents before. “I said nothing because I have younger siblings and there were possible consequences for them.”

At one point, the court cautioned the woman that she was running the risk of incriminating herself.

She continued, however, telling the court that all the information she had given to the police she had received from her parents abroad, repeating that she wanted to drop the charges.

“If I stop the proceedings and I receive threats from my family I have no problem with that,” said the woman, insisting that she had not been forced to do so and insisting that she really wanted the proceedings to stop.

Inspector Buhagiar informed the court that the woman had not told the police about any threats from abroad, and that they had first heard about them through her lawyer. “She also told the police that her parents had blocked all contact with her and that her father was coming to Malta to speak to her,” the inspector added.

The defence lawyer argued that the danger which the woman was facing, appeared to be coming from her parents in Germany and not the defendant. “What is sure is that he should not be punished for other persons’ criminal behaviour,” argued the lawyer.

But Magistrate Grech rejected the request to drop the charges and ruled that the case should continue, stating that he was not convinced that the request to halt the proceedings was genuine, especially after seeing the detailed report drawn up by social workers from Appoġġ, who had interviewed the woman for over four hours, together with the inspector’s description of the circumstances which had led to the man's arrest.

Magri requested bail for his client, telling the court that the woman was currently residing with defendant’s uncle.

The request met opposition from the prosecution, which reminded the court that the woman had testified to having been contacted by defendant’s mother “and others.”

She had moved in with the defendant’s uncle, who had offered her a roof over her head after hearing that she was going to be referred to a domestic violence shelter.

Two hours after she had finished speaking to the inspector, the defendant’s uncle had called the police, allegedly on her behalf, to inform the authorities that she would prefer to reside with him.

Inspector Buhagiar emphasised the great risk of harm which the woman needed to be protected from. “The prosecution believes that the threats are not coming from the woman’s side of the family, but from the defendant’s family,” added the inspector.

Magri, meanwhile, highlighted the fact that the defendant had been living in Malta for the past nine years and had been married to the woman for over a year. He insisted that the interference was coming from the woman’s family in Germany and that the man’s family members were not going to be asked to testify, which meant that there was no risk of them being suborned.

The magistrate told the lawyer that he was not convinced. “Had it been a four-line report, I might have accepted her request [to drop the charges] but a four-hour statement is a different matter.”

The defence lawyer added that his client would not be residing with the woman were he to be granted bail and was currently in gainful employment.

The court ultimately upheld the request for bail and ordered the man be released from arrest against a €300 deposit and a €5,000 personal guarantee.

A protection order in favour of the woman and against the defendant was also issued.