A man has been cleared of committing bigamy after a court noted that his first marriage to a Maltese woman had been declared null. 

He was also cleared of taking a false oath when he applied for marriage banns to marry his Russian girlfriend after the court heard how no oath had been administered at the Public Registry. 

Charles Micallef, from Rabat, was charged in 2014 with committing bigamy after the police were alerted to the fact that he married his Russian wife when he was still married to a Maltese woman. The crime is punishable by up to four years in jail. He was also accused of taking a false oath and relapsing. 

During the course of the proceedings, the court was told that Mr Micallef had been legally separated from his Maltese wife, but not divorced. At that stage, the defence had objected to the production of the woman as a witness as the two were spouses.

A Public Registry representative had told the court that the accused had been legally separated from the Maltese woman since 2000 but had filed an application for marriage banns in March 2014, beginning the process to marry a second time. The witness had exhibited a declaration, signed by the accused, stating that he was not married. 

The Director of the Public Registry had informed the police that Mr Micallef had married a Russian woman whilst still married to the Maltese woman.

Asked by the defence whether any checks had been carried out before the issuing of the banns, the witness replied that there might have been an oversight by the official in charge.

It emerged from the representative’s testimony that the registry had access to two databases on individuals’ details but none had any details of his first marriage, which was finally annulled in 2018, during the criminal proceedings. 

Magistrate Astrid May Grima ruled that since the first marriage was declared null, the man could not be found guilty of bigamy as this meant that the marriage did not exist.

“Although when the accused married for the second time, his first marriage was still in force as he had only been legally separated and never obtained a divorce, the fact that later the first marriage was later declared null, [means] the accused cannot be found guilty…the first marriage cannot be considered as a valid and legitimate marriage,” the magistrate said. 

On the second charge, of swearing a false oath, the court noted that the public registry official was not proven to be a person authorised to administer oaths under the law. 

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Rene Darmanin appeared for the man.