Woman's insults provoked violent attack by co-worker, Court rules

A man was conditionally discharged for striking a woman in an argument over a letter of recommendation after a court ruled that he had been unjustly provoked.

44-year-old Patrick Xuereb was given a conditional discharge for six months after being found guilty of causing slight injury to Renee' Vella in Zejtun during the afternoon of January 6 this year.

Police Inspector Johann Fenech had originally charged Xuereb with inflicting grievous bodily harm and uttering insults and threats to Vella. The nature of the insults and the dynamics of the incident were not elaborated on in the judgment.

Despite the charges, medical evidence showed the woman to have suffered only slight injury and the second charge – insulting and threatening – was a contravention, the court noted.

Magistrate Joseph Mifsud said that disagreements should be solved through dialogue and not by insulting the person one is in disagreement with, ruling that in this case, it had been the victim who provoked the incident.

The court observed that the incident “had been provoked by the injured party when she insulted her co-worker because he had refused to give her a letter of recommendation, to which he then reacted.”

Xuereb was found guilty of causing slight bodily harm and handed a six-month conditional discharge. He was also ordered to keep the peace with Vella for the next 12 months or face a penalty of €1,000.