Court hands down suspended sentence for harassment
Text messages were even sent to the victim while she was at a police station filing a report
A 28-year-old man has been handed a one-year suspended jail term after pleading guilty to harassing his former partner.
The man, who is from Marsa and unemployed, was charged with harassing the woman, following her and making statements that led her to fear for her life.
On Wednesday, the prosecution told the court that the accused and the victim had been in a relationship for around 18 months, before breaking up 10 days ago.
During that time, the accused sent her several messages and calls even though she asked him to stop. Some of these were made while the woman was at the police station filing a report, and implied that if he could not be with her, no one could.
He also attempted to enter her home.
The defence asked for an alternative to a prison sentence, pointing out that no physical violence had occurred, that he had cooperated with the police and pleaded guilty at an early stage.
The prosecution did not object, and agreed with the defence that the man needed to accept the fact that the relationship had ended and that he needed to leave the victim alone.
Magistrate Antoine Agius Bonnici sentenced the man to one year in prison, suspended for a year, as well as a €800 fine. He issued a six-month restraining order in favour of the victim.
He also upheld a request by the defence to ban the publication of the names of the parties due to the involvement of minors.
Magistrate Antoine Agius Bonnici presided.
Police inspector Sherona Buhagiar prosecuted while lawyers Franco Debono and Adreana Zammit appeared for the accused.