Rams man’s parked car for failing to answer doorbell

Carmel Mifsud told his interrogator that he had been enraged when Charlie Agius did not answer his knocks on the door and therefore proceeded to ram Agius’ car with his own.

An unorthodox alternative to leaving a calling card has landed a man from Zebbug a suspended prison sentence.

Earlier this week 48 year-old Carmel Albert Mifsud received a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, for ramming a parked car whose owner had failed to answer Mifsud’s knocking on his front door.

Police Inspector Kylie Borg had charged Mifsud with damaging the vehicle, reckless driving and failing to stop after being involved in a traffic accident.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit was shown evidence of an ongoing dispute between Mifsud and the owner of the damaged vehicle, Charlie Agius. 

While being questioned by police, the accused had started off by saying how angry he was with Agius over a long-standing dispute that was currently the subject of a court case. He had told his interrogator that he had been further enraged when nobody answered his knocks on the door and had proceeded to ram Agius’ car with his own.

But when the police asked him whether he had done so voluntarily, the court noted that Mifsud had “seemed to realise that he was going to incriminate himself and did not answer.”

Agius and his wife had testified to having seen Mifsud knocking on their front door and hearing him erupt into a foul-mouthed rage when they didn’t open up for him. Whilst calling the police station for assistance, they had heard a loud bang and then noticed their car had been damaged. A police officer later testified that he had found the accused’s vehicle to have suffered damage which corresponded to that on Agius’ car.

The court found the accused guilty of causing damage to Agius’ car and of leaving the scene of a traffic collision, but cleared him of driving recklessly because nobody had seen him actually driving.

Mifsud was handed a sentence of 10 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. A protection order was issued in favour of the Agius family.