A man who admitted to violent episodes involving his mother and sister was let off the hook last week because of a mistake in the date of the incident.
A magistrate ruled that she could not accept the man’s admission to the charges since according to the police these happened a year before they actually did.
Once the prosecution had not realised it had committed such a grave mistake in the charge sheet, the court had no option but to acquit the accused.
Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras was ruling in a domestic violence case brought against a Valletta man, whose name was banned from publication, who admitted to slightly injuring his mother and to threatening her and his sister, causing them to fear violence.
The magistrate noted that the crime to which the man admitted had taken place on January 7 and 13, 2021, when the charges brought against him referred to the same dates but in 2020.
She said all the evidence confirmed that the incidents had taken place on the mentioned dates last year and not in 2020.
The court heard how the man was charged with having injured his mother between 4 and 9pm on January 7, as certified by a doctor who examined her at the Floriana Health Centre.
He was also accused of damaging his mother’s property, swearing in public, breaching the peace, insulting his mother and sister and causing them to fear violence and to having committed the crime during the operation term of a probation order.
The prosecution requested the court to issue a protection order in favour of the man’s mother and sister.
During his arraignment, the man pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him but had a change of heart during the first sitting of his compilation of evidence two weeks later, opting to admit to all the charges.
Magistrate Galea Sciberras said the court could not accept the man’s guilty plea because his mother and sister had testified about their ordeal which took place on January 7 and 13 of 2021. The police report filed by the two women as well as the certificate issued by the doctor also bore the same date.
However, the charges filed by the prosecution claimed that the man had committed the acts in 2020, a year before.
The magistrate noted that despite two corrections to the charge sheet, related to the mother’s name and to the request for a protection order, the prosecution did not realise the mistake and did not request a correction.
Quoting case law where convictions were quashed on appeal due to a mistake in the charge sheet, the magistrate went on to clear the man of all charges brought against him.