Couple charged with assaulting pensioner 'more likely to have been the victims'

Man and woman are cleared of injuring a pensioner during an argument over right of way in 2014

Two people charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on an elderly woman and breaching the peace, during a 2014 disagreement over right of way at Kennedy Grove, have been cleared after a court felt that it was more likely that they were the victims.

Dylan Xuereb and Kelly Zammit, aged 23 and 28 respectively, were charged with threatening and attacking Helen Ciantar - already over sixty years old at the time - and public order violations in connection with an incident at the Salina nature spot on the 10th of February last year.

In their search for a parking space, the accused had driven into a narrow lane leading to an open area but had come face to face with a vehicle being driven in the opposite direction by Ciantar. A confrontation took place when, by means of hand signals, Xuereb had asked the elderly woman to reverse into the wide area which she had just entered the lane from.

Ciantar claimed that the accused had got out of their car, uttering foul language and cursing her. She alleged that the accused had “pushed her with his chest and grabbed her hand, causing her to fall to her knees and hurt her arm.

She added that when her son in-law had remonstrated with the accused couple, Kelly Zammit had emerged from the vehicle and “climbed on his back to hit him.”

Ciantar claimed that she had been certified as suffering from slight injuries at the local health centre but had then been sent to hospital for an X-ray and subsequently spent two weeks with her arm in plaster. However, the doctor who treated her told the court that what they had thought was a fracture turned out to be an old injury, which preceded the incident.

Xuereb and Zammit gave an altogether different version of events, however. They claimed that Ciantar was the party to get out of her car first, shouting and tapping the mudguard of his car with her finger all the while.

Xuereb had said that when he had attempted to explain to the woman that it would not be prudent of him to reverse out of the narrow lane (as this led directly to the Coast Road), he had been attacked by a group of assailants who threw him to the ground. Two or three of the unidentified assailants had attacked Zammit, he added.

They said that they had escaped from the clutches of their attackers thanks to the timely intervention of what they described as a well-built man, which gave them the opportunity to get back into their car. As they were driving away, the police turned up and secured the area, sending the accused to file a report at Qawra police station.

Zammit, who was a passenger, testified that when she had tried to exit the vehicle, somebody pulled her to the ground by her hair and started to punch her in the head. The unidentified well-built man picked her up, covered her head and placed her in the car. He urged them to get out of the area as quickly as possible, she said.

A medical examination had confirmed that the young woman had a considerable amount of hair pulled out of her scalp and suffered scratches to her chest and arms.

Police Inspector Joseph Busuttil had also given his testimony in May this year, telling Magistrate Aaron Bugeja that he had noticed a commotion as he was being driven past Kennedy Grove and had instructed his driver to take him there. Upon his arrival, he noted the argument between the couple and a group of people, who upon noticing the policemen, turned towards them and started to loudly protest at the officers.

He told the court how he had ordered the couple, whom he had perceived to be the victims at the time, to get into their car and file a report at a police station.

As soon as he had given this instruction, he said, the crowd had turned their ire on to the police, using foul language and refusing to give them their particulars. One man, whom he had recognised from his home town, had threateningly told the inspector that he knew who he was, the court was told.

In his judgment, Magistrate Bugeja pointed out that, aside from the fact that the Ciantar’s claims of injury and her version of events was not entirely consistent, nor was it corroborated with other evidence. To the contrary, the court said that it was more likely that the two accused had been the victims of verbal and physical aggression by a group of unidentified persons.

Having heard the witnesses and noting that the quality of evidence tendered was not conducive to it confidently declaring their guilt, the court released the couple without charge.

Lawyers Stephanie Abela and Andy Ellul defended the accused.