Jail for AFM soldier who brutally beat wife

A member of the Armed Forces' air wing, Carmelo Psaila, 42 of Zabbar has been jailed for two years by Magistrate Giovanni Grixti, who decreed that there was no room for any submission by the accused to be considered as a first-time offender.

Magistrate Grixti stressed that "the kind of torture the accused had submitted his wife to, didn't merit any other consideration" but to impose an effective jail term.

The Court heard how Psaila was arrested when Police were called to Triq l-Iskoll in Marsascala and had to literally pull him off his wife, while he was beating her on the pavement.

Psaila - who at the time was separating from his wife and had an issue with her over the children - was allegedly shouting "where are the children?" when the police found him punching the woman in the face.

The accused had found his wife walking along the street, when he drove a van towards her, blocking her way, jumped out and assaulted her.

The Court heard how Psaila punched and kicked his wife to the ground, dragged her from her hair and punched her in the mouth, breaking almost all of her front teeth. The injuries the woman sustained were certified to be grievous and permanent.

In handing judgment, Magistrate Grixti also took into account the fact that Psaila was a soldier, and therefore, as a public officer, he was duty-bound to prevent from happening.

The Court said that while it may understand that Psaila may have been anxious about his children, "one can never take the law into his hands and cause havoc the way the accused did."

He jailed Psaila for two years.