The former Labour deputy mayor of Xgħajra was partially cleared over an incident with his former partner five years ago, landing a €50 fine for reacting badly when she announced her intention to break up. 

Neil Attard had been facing criminal proceedings over the incident in May 2015, while the couple was on board a yacht, berthed at Marsaxlokk. 

At one point, the woman said that she wished to end the relationship, allegedly prompting a violent reaction by her partner.

He had elbowed her, hitting her on the chest, then gripped her hands, seizing her mobile phone and wallet, then threatened to stab her, the woman had subsequently testified in court. 

As she finally dashed to her car, the accused had grabbed her car keys, handing them back a while later.

Following that episode, the man kept messaging her, said the woman, until all contact ceased in August 2015. 

The accused himself also testified, saying that he had accepted the woman’s decision about the breakup. 

Yet, she had walked off in a huff, heading towards her car and forgetting her keys behind. 

That was why he had gone after her, he claimed, denying the presence of a knife on board the yacht. 

Upon the evidence put forward, the court, presided over by magistrate Audrey Demicoli, observed that the accused’s version was not wholly plausible, especially when describing his reaction to the break-up. 

Why would his partner go off in a huff had he accepted her intention to end the relationship, the court observed, concluding that the first charge was sufficiently proven. 

Yet, the other charges, of causing her to fear violence and breaching the terms of a suspended sentence, had not been proven.

If the alleged victim had been so afraid of her aggressor, she would not have agreed to meet him at the beach two months after the yacht incident, observed the court.

Nor had it been proved that he had threatened her with a knife, said Magistrate Demicoli, further stating that no proof of the suspended sentence, allegedly breached, had been put forward. 

Consequently, the court acquitted Attard of those two charges, while declaring him guilty of insults or threats and fining him €50. 

Lawyer David Gatt was defence counsel.