A man who slapped his ex-girlfriend in front of her parents has been handed a suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of the domestic violence incident.

23-year-old Sven Bonnici assaulted the woman on March 12, 2022 in Żejtun, a court heard.

On that morning, the victim and her father discovered that someone had smashed the window of her bedroom.

While they stood outside the house, Bonnici drove up the road, got out of the car and hastily approached the woman, slapping her in the face. The father tried to protect his daughter and started hitting the accused with the safety shoes he was wearing.

It later emerged that the victim had told Bonnici – who she had spent six years dating before breaking up – that she was going out with her female work colleagues, but he had seen her in the company of three men.

Magistrate Rachel Montebello ruled that although Bonnici denied hitting his ex-girlfriend, the court was more inclined to believe the consistent versions of the victim and her father. She rubbished a theory put forward by the defence that it could have been the victim’s father who hit his daughter by accident.

The court noted that Bonnici showed absolutely no remorse for his actions and that despite being relatively young, he already had three convictions on his criminal record, including voluntary damage, subordination and drug possession. The magistrate observed that although the punishments were community work, the accused did not take the opportunity to reform and avoid aggressive and violent behaviour.

The court therefore jailed Bonnici for four months suspended for two years and ordered him not to speak to his former partner for a year, against a €2,300 fine in default.

Police Inspector Audrey Micallef prosecuted.  Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Francesca Zarb were defence counsel.