Alleged drug kingpin Jordan Azzopardi was spared being charged with another set of domestic violence charges against his long-term partner, seven months after she first forgave him of similar accusations.

Azzopardi was arraigned in front of Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi on Wednesday accused of causing his girlfriend to fear violence and placing her life in danger, holding her against her will and depriving her of her property.

He was also charged with unlicensed possession of a firearm and breaching the conditions of previous bail decrees granted to him.

Police inspector Christian Cauchi told the court that around 1pm on Tuesday, officers at the St Julian’s police station received a report of a domestic disturbance in Swieqi where a man had been allegedly threatening his girlfriend with a gun.

Arriving on the scene with officers from the domestic violence unit, Cauchi said he spoke to the alleged victim, who told him that she had been at Azzopardi’s home for two days and that things had deteriorated rapidly between them. 

Victim cried out from the balcony for help

“She said that she had tried to leave the property and he told her that he would die without her.

He dragged her back into the home, punched her in the face, grabbed her by the neck and started choking her until she was short of breath and kneeled on her chest to prevent her from defending herself, Cauchi said.

“She told us that he had also taken her mobile phone and she tried to get the attention of some workers she could see from the balcony,” he continued.

“Initially, she said that the men had told her to forgive him, but then urged her to come outside when she said that he had a gun and was threatening to kill her.

The accused tried to drag her away from the balcony so that she could no longer speak to these men, Cauchi added. He said that, eventually, the alleged victim had managed to leave the home and found her way to the construction workers, one of whom gave her a phone to call the police.

When the police arrived on site, Azzopardi was nowhere to be found but the aforementioned firearm had been found in plain sight on the kitchen island.

However, before proceedings could continue, the alleged victim made a request through her lawyers to speak to the court, saying that she forgave Azzopardi and intended to drop the report against him.

She told the magistrate as much herself, saying that the couple had had an argument and simply had their “ups and downs” which on this occasion had “escalated”.

“I was being stubborn and wanted to walk away when he just wanted to talk things out,” she told the court

“I love him and I don’t want these proceedings to continue,” she said, adding that she was not dropping the charges because of some undue pressure on Azzopardi’s part.

She also stressed that Azzopardi had never threatened to kill her with the gun and denied telling the police as much. Asked whether she was afraid of Azzopardi, the alleged victim hesitated before saying “no”.

“But you know, when you’re arguing with someone ..” she trailed off.

“Are you afraid of him right now,” the court responded.

“No,” she said more decisively. “Tonight I can go home and sleep next to him again.” 

Gun charges ‘separate’ from domestic violence charges 

In light of the woman’s decision to renounce her part in the accusation brought against Azzopardi, defence lawyer Franco Debono argued that the remaining charges against him should be dropped.

The prosecution objected to the request, saying that while it could respect the court’s decision to vacate the domestic violence charges on the wishes of the victim, the issues relating to the possession of the firearm should be considered separately.

This is because not only is the unlicensed possession of the firearm unrelated to domestic violence, but the offences even emerge from different parts of the criminal code.

The defence denied this claim, however, saying that, as they were presented, the gun charges are tied intrinsically to the domestic violence charges, which the court had already said it intended to vacate based on the wishes of the victim.

Quoting case law, Debono said that, ultimately, the spirit of the law means to protect the relationship between the two parties, if it is to continue and that, as written, the criminal code gives the court the power to drop all the charges at the victim’s behest in their entirety.

“If proceedings are to continue based on some of the charges, not only will they be continuing against the wishes of the alleged victim, they would be proceeding with charges that can only be interpreted as aggravating to a charge which the court has already vacated,” he said. 

‘You should be grateful to her’ 

Ultimately, the court decided that the writ law is unequivocal in interpreting the power that rests with family members to drop all proceedings related to a domestic incident and was conceived with the intention of protecting the family nucleus and the relationship between the parties.

In view of this, he said, proceedings on these charges will not continue.

Turning to address Azzopardi and his partner, Magistrate Azzopardi told him he “should be grateful to her” for choosing to forgive him once again.

“This is the second time she has forgiven you. I don’t think it was a small incident that landed you in here, so make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

“And you madame,” he said to the woman, "you did nothing wrong, not today when you decided to forgive him and neither when you reported him the first time. If he does it again I want you to report him again.”

In August last year, a court heard how Azzopardi had allegedly threatened to throw his girlfriend off a balcony and throw acid on her to maim her in a text message.

On that occasion, the woman had also chosen to forgive him and said she had only reported him in the heat of the moment.

Azzopardi is a well-known figure in the law courts and is currently facing various other criminal charges in multiple cases.

In 2019, he was arrested are charged with heading a nationwide drug operation that earned him the nickname El Chapo ta' Malta.

Police raided drug dens in Birkirkara, Balzan, Marsa, Gżira and Pietà as part of that operation, as well as Azzopardi’s rented villa in Madliena, where they found wads of cash hidden inside the walls of a shower.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Charles Mercieca were defence counsel to Azzopardi. Lawyers José Herrera and Nicholas Mifsud appeared parte civile for the woman.