Guilty plea to grievous injury charge

A trial by jury of a man accused of causing his wife a grievous injury not did not go ahead yesterday after he admitted to the charge.

The court will hand down sentence tomorrow.

George Cucciardi, 52, of Hamrun, a taxi driver, was originally charged with the attempted murder of his wife Mary Grace on Christmas Day, 1999, by hitting her on the head with a spade. The incident took place in Old Bakery Street, Valletta, where the wife was living with her partner, Neriku Grixti.

Passers-by had called an ambulance after they found the wife on the pavement with blood gushing out of a head wound.

The charge of attempted murder carries a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment.

Following plea bargaining between the defence counsel, made up of Joseph Giglio and Jason Azzopardi, and senior counsel for the republic Mark Said, the charge was changed to grievous bodily harm because it was found that George Cucciardi had been provoked by an offence committed by his wife who, according to the bill of indictment, had first hit him on his left hand with the spade.

The charge of grievous bodily harm carries a lesser term than an attempted murder charge.

After the accused pleaded guilty, the court presided by Mr Justice Joe Galea Debono asked Cucciardi to reconsider his plea.

After the accused confirmed his guilty plea, the defence team called several witnesses, including the wife of the accused, his daughter and the accused's son-in-law.

Marie Grace Cucciardi testified that she forgave her husband and that she had wronged him by gambling substantial sums of money and by giving the power of attorney on her husband's bank account to her current partner, Neriku Grixti, and by going out with other men.

The defence notified the court that the account had been drained to Lm40 from about Lm27,000.

The Cucciardis daughter, Rini Aquilina, 24, testified that her father George used to look after her and her brother because her mother was out of the house most of the time.

Her mother used to make her skip school, leaving her illiterate, in order to make her clean the house. Her mother used to stay out late but her father used to accept this because he was afraid of her.

The daughter said her mother once planted a knife in her own arm and wanted to lodge a report to the police stating that it was her husband who had injured her.

The mother wanted her daughter to testify falsely that it was her husband who had attacked her with the knife, she testified, saying also that her mother used to take other men into the house and that she used to accept all this.

Cucciardi's son-in-law, Joe Aquilina, said Mary Grace Cucciardi was a heavy gambler and that one day she called him to give her a lift from the casino where she told him she had gambled Lm3,000.

The accused, who was out on bail, will be kept in preventive custody until sentence is handed down tomorrow.