Probation, anger management for ramming ex's car - with her inside

A 28 year old man from Zebbug has been ordered to undergo anger management therapy after he admitted to having repeatedly rammed his ex-partner's vehicle with his car, while she was inside it.

Christian McKay was also placed on probation for three years after pleading guilty to having used a car owned by a third party to ram a Hyundai Accent which Mavrick Zammit had been driving last February in Cospicua. 

Both Zammit and Shana Cassar, mother of one of McKay's children, had been inside the car at the time.

McKay also admitted to damaging both cars, driving recklessly and harassing Zammit and Cassar.

He pleaded guilty to having subsequently physically attacked Cassar while at the Cospicua police station in December 2016.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech found McKay guilty as charged, in view of his admission.

The court, however, said it could not but observe that the alleged value of the damage caused to both cars was identical - €1675.66, something it found to be “highly improbable.”

It also noted that the charge of “beating without injuring” the woman, was “entirely devoid of the elements of a crime and therefore, in spite of the accused's admission to this charge, the court has no alternative but to abstain from taking cognizance of it.”

In sentencing the accused, the court took into consideration the fact that the woman had forgiven the accused, as well as the conclusions of a social inquiry report which found that McKay needed assistance in overcoming the anger problem that was preventing him from living a calm life.

McKay was placed under a probation order for three years. He was also ordered to follow an anger management programme and was disqualified from driving for six months. A three year protection order was issued in favour of the woman.

Inspector Josric Mifsud prosecuted, while lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia appeared for McKay.