A man who injured his wife when he pushed her into a glass cabinet as their 11-year-old son looked on was given a 15-month effective jail term, with the court delivering a message that domestic violence should be punished harshly.

The court noted that although the Mtarfa man said he was sorry for what he had done, there was nothing to show that he had apologised to the woman or had tried to make up for the damage. 

The man was convicted of grievously injuring his wife when he grabbed her by the throat and rammed her into the glass cabinet door, smashing it, on December 1, 2018, as the couple’s son looked on.

The woman smashed the hand through the glass door and suffered serious injuries. 

Inspector Matthew Galea told the court, presided by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, that the couple had argued and the altercation had become physical.

The couple’s son said the argument broke out when the woman told her husband that she wanted to leave home. He said his father began helping her pack up her belongings until she accidentally hit him in the face. The man told the court that he was slapped hard and that was when he lost his patience. 

The court said that even though the man said that he was sorry for what happened, there was nothing to show that he had tried to make up for the damage or apologise to his wife.

The magistrate said it was unacceptable that the accused beat his wife in front of their child, as the incident would have marked him for life. 

She said society expected that acts of violence in a domestic setting are punished seriously. As well as jailing him for 15 months, she also issued a three-year restraining order in favour of the woman.