A woman who was ordered not to approach her estranged husband has ended up facing criminal charges under arrest after she went to the couple’s matrimonial home early on Thursday morning.
The mother, who is a teacher by profession, said she went there to pick up the couple’s daughter and drive her to university.
Her estranged husband filed a report with the domestic violence unit, saying he found her standing in front of their home’s garage at 5.45am.
His wife had been barred from approaching him under a protection order issued eight months ago.
The woman was arrested at 8:00am.
At her arraignment the woman, whose personal details were banned from publication, pleaded not guilty to allegedly breaching the protection order as well as previous bail conditions.
“She has no place here [in court]….There are undercurrents…Her husband twisted and manipulated the circumstances…He pounced on the opportunity to nail her and she fell for it like the sacrificial lamb,” argued defence lawyer Mark Busuttil, making an impassioned plea for bail.
Her lawyer explained that the defendant and her husband were going through personal separation proceedings.
He lived in the matrimonial home with the couple’s adult daughter. The mother had taken up residence elsewhere.
“But the matrimonial home is her paraphernal property and he’s doing all he can to keep her away,” said the lawyer.
The lawyer said his client’s husband knew she was going to be taking their daughter to University and had never objected to that in the past.
“But he suddenly changed his mind,” Busuttil said, adding that the daughter had been traumatised to discover that her mother had been arrested for picking her up.
The defendant risked losing her job if she did not get bail “and she is a very good teacher,” stressed Busuttil.
Prosecuting Inspector Antonello Magri objected to bail, since the alleged victim was still to testify.
Moreover the defendant had been warned by police not to approach the residence two days ago.
“She could have waited two corners away,” said the prosecutor.
After hearing submissions the court, presided over by Magistrate Leonard Caruana, observed that bail was to be granted “in the most particular circumstances of the case.”
Although court orders were to be “scrupulously” obeyed, the defendant merited bail but under “more stringent conditions” than the ones previously imposed upon her.
She was ordered not to approach prosecution witnesses, to sign the bail book three times weekly, under a curfew between 9:00pm and 6:00am, a deposit of €400 and a personal guarantee of €1000.