Man accused of threatening to burn his wife alive

A 52-year-old man was yesterday charged with seriously injuring his wife when he hit her on the head with a wooden ornament and with threatening to kill her the way Sylvia King had been - burnt alive.

Magistrate Silvio Meli heard the Marsascala man plead not guilty to permanently injuring his wife when he hit her and punched her on Saturday.

He also pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill her and hindering her from accessing their matrimonial home when he changed the lock.

During the arraignment the accused appeared unattended as his lawyer failed to turn up when called three times.

After filing a not guilty plea the man asked for bail but Police Inspector Anthony Cassar, prosecuting, objected.

Inspector Cassar told the magistrate the assault was not an isolated case but had been going on for the last 22 years. The wife had reached a stage when she was scared to leave home.

The inspector added that the accused had threatened to kill her and had told her he would do what Joseph Harrington had done. (Mr Harrington was jailed for life for the murder of Sylvia King who was burnt alive in a car at Il-Kuncizzjoni, limits of Rabat, on April 3, 1993.)

Asked if he had anything to say, the accused replied that his wife was the one who was all the time picking fights.

Magistrate Meli denied the request for bail at this stage.