Rosianne Cutajar calls out magistrate who refused Robert Aquilina arrest warrant

Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar has called out Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi for not issuing an arrest warrant in the domestic abuse case involving Robert Aquilina.

Cutajar said that with the risk assessment carried out on the victim indicating a high level of danger, the magistrate should have acceded to the police request for an arrest warrant.

“If it wasn’t Robert Aquilina and it was someone else, would he have been arrested? Yes. But it seems as if there are people in this country who belong to a refined class of Nationalists, or sacred cows, who are treated differently,” Cutajar said during her adjournment speech in parliament on Monday evening.

Aquilina was called in for questioning at police headquarters on Saturday afternoon in relation to a report filed by his wife on Friday evening in which she alleged domestic abuse.

The former Repubblika President was questioned at length but then released.

Sources told MaltaToday that following a risk assessment on the victim, the police asked duty magistrate Kevan Azzopardi to issue an arrest warrant against Aquilina. However, the magistrate turned down the request and Aquilina was instead summoned to police headquarters.

READ ALSO | Robert Aquilina resigns from Repubblika, Falcone Foundation after domestic violence report

Cutajar called on the judiciary to show more empathy with victims and be consistent in their decisions. “The message that was sent out [in the Aquilina case] was wrong,” the Labour MP said.

The magistrate’s decision caused ire among women’s rights organisations that insisted in such circumstances, authorities should always err on the side of caution.

Turning her sights to Aquilina, Cutajar called him out for “playing the victim card” by urging people to respect his privacy.

“It is very common in cases like this for alleged perpetrators to engage in victim shaming and victim blaming; that is where this is heading… let us be clear, the true victim in this case is Robert Aquilina’s wife and not the Curia’s notary,” Cutajar said, referring to Aquilina’s profession and the fact that he offers his services to the church.

Cutajar appealed to women suffering domestic abuse to come forward and report. “You are only one step away from living a life in dignity, away from abuse.”

She expressed incredulity at Aquilina’s request for his privacy to be respected, insisting that no such respect was shown to her when private WhatsApp messages were leaked.

The reference was to a data leak of messages that were exchanged between Cutajar and murder suspect Yorgen Fenech at a time when the latter was not yet charged with masterminding Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder. One of the messages was from Cutajar saying she was accepting a job at the tourism school because "everyone else is pigging out".

Aquilina has denied any wrongdoing.

READ ALSO | Women’s lobby slams ‘imbalance’ in how domestic violence victims are treated by authorities