Women fight it off... over a horses’ passage

Two women faced a Magistrate last week after engaging in an argument as they attended to their horses in a stable in Marsa.

Anne Coppini and Melanie Butcher - both well known in the local equestrian sport - were allegedly involved in a three-part verbal argument that was eventually blown out of proportion and landed them both with a police summons before a court.

A patient Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna sat and listened to both women's lawyers argue about the sequence of events, to the extent that he had to warn one of the lawyers that he was about to fine him for contempt.

Melanie Butcher alleged that she heard Anne Coppini tell her "you f****** British, you never learn" when she [Butcher] was driving her car through a narrow street in Marsa towards the stables, when Coppini was riding her horse.

Butcher said that she gradually came to a halt with her car as Coppini and another two riders approached on the left hand side.

The comment was made as Coppini allegedly hit Butcher's car with her stirrup iron as she rode past, but Butcher moved on, only to find Coppini later by the stable gate, again with her horse.

In a bid to make her point, Butcher stood in front of the gate and asked Coppini what she would do in a situation which was similar to the earlier incident with the car.

"What are you going to do now? How would you pass?" Butcher asked Coppini.

The court heard how Coppini allegedly pushed her horse forward. A move which according to Butcher was an attempt by Coppini to ride over her.

"If it wasn't for my knowledge on how to handle horses, she would have injured me," Butcher told Magistrate Apap Bologna, adding that she immediately put her hands out to the horse's neck to control him.

Another verbal argument ensued even later within the stable yard.

Coppini was assisted by her brother lawyer Stefan Frendo, who is also an equestrian enthusiast.

Tones went higher as Butcher alluded to Coppini's lawyer's knowledge of horses, and replied to him "ask your sister... she knows what she did."

The case continues.