Administrative blunder leads to lawyer’s acquittal in domestic violence threat case

A lawyer has been acquitted of threatening to shoot his partner and her lawyer after the police wrote down the wrong time and place in the charge sheet.

William Cuschieri, 42, from Mosta, was accused of threatening the two over the phone. His partner’s lawyer, Martina Caruana, had presented a recording of the phone call to the police’s domestic violence unit.

Testifying in court, Caruana said her client had told Cuschieri: “You say you’re not threatening me, but then you say that if I hire a lawyer, you’ll fire two shots at him.”

According to Caruana, his response was: “That’s not a threat, that’s a promise. I will hit you and him. [“Dik mhux sfida, dik inwiegħdek li nagħmilha. Li mmiss lilek u lilu”]

This testimony was supported by a second lawyer, Emma Portelli Bonnici, who also claimed to have heard the same exchange and, like Caruana, filed a police report on the matter.

Adrian Zahra, a police sergeant, confirmed in his testimony that the two lawyers had filed their reports at the Mdina police station. They said the incident was committed at the domestic violence unit at 1:30pm.

However, the defence claimed that the recording lacked authenticity and the voices could not be identified. Since Cuschieri’s partner chose not to testify in the case, the defence dismissed it as hearsay evidence.

Moreover, the charge sheet indicated that the offence took place at 6.10pm in Rabat, rather than at 1:30pm at the domestic violence unit. Additionally, the defence stated that the document was sworn under oath at the Mtarfa police station, rather than Rabat.

The arguments by the defence were sufficient for the court to conclude that the accused did not make any threats in Rabat at 6:10pm. So whilst the efforts and claims made were “highly deplorable and condemnable”, the court was compelled to dismiss the case.

Magistrate Monica Vella presided over this case.