Woman cleared of glassing father of son’s girlfriend in Bormla family feud

A woman from Bormla has been cleared of smashing a glass in the face of her son’s girlfriend’s father, because of doubts as to who had inflicted the man’s injuries.

In a sentence delivered on Friday morning, 50 year-old Jacqueline Bugeja was found not guilty of grievously injuring Nazzareno Gauci.

Inspector Kylie Borg had explained that Gauci’s daughter Wendy, herself no stranger to the courts, had been in a relationship with the accused’s son Francis Bugeja.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli heard how Wendy Gauci and her parents, brother and his girlfriend had visited an apartment occupied by Wendy and Natasha Bugeja, who is the daughter of the accused. For reasons unknown, the Gauci and Bugeja families had clashed outside the flat.

The court was told that Natasha Bugeja had called her brother, Francis, who promptly arrived on the scene in a stolen vehicle accompanied by Tyson, his brother, and the accused. A scuffle ensued in which Nazzareno Gauci suffered a laceration under one of his eyes, permanently scarring him.

Nazzareno Gauci had testified in February 2015, insisting that he had tried to intervene in the fracas when he saw his son being hit in the back with a hammer wielded by one of the Bugeja siblings, but was struck in the face with a glass. He claimed that this blow was delivered by a “fat woman who emerged from his daughter’s boyfriend’s car.” He had never met the accused before.

Jacqueline Bugeja had denied the charges, claiming that the Gauci family had rammed her car from behind, and Nazzareno Gauci had later withdrawn his criminal complaint.

The court, faced with a situation where at the time of the incident the alleged victim claimed to have been injured by Francis Bugeja, but who later told the court that he had been assaulted by a large woman and who then withdrew his criminal complaint a month later, could not establish who had caused Nazzareno Gauci’s injuries.

The presence of doubt always benefits the accused, the court said, declaring Bugeja not guilty for that reason.