Alleged drug kingpin Jordan Azzopardi has been acquitted of domestic violence charges after his girlfriend asked the court to drop the case against him.
A court ruled that it should respect the wishes of Azzopardi’s partner, citing a 2019 judgement in which the court concluded that in domestic disputes, “grace should prevail over justice”.
The court made that observation "in the supreme interest of domestic life", which it noted was of heightened importance within the country's social context.
“The crimes the accused is alleged to have committed cannot be considered insignificant,” the court said of Azzopardi, before it added that his partner’s actions and court testimony made it clear that she did not want the case to continue.
Azzopardi and his partner are still together and living under the same roof, the court noted as it cleared the 34-year-old of a spate of charges.
Article 543 of Malta's criminal code allows the court to order criminal proceedings for domestic violence to go ahead even when the victim asks for the case to be dropped, following a legal change introduced in 2018.
Azzopardi stood accused of having assaulted his partner, sent her a series of threatening messages and posted intimate video of her to messaging app Telegram, without her consent.
A court heard in June how Azzopardi had threatened to throw his girlfriend off a balcony and then sent her 16 voice messages in an 11-hour stretch after the row.
“All it will take is €20 worth of acid to peel off your face, breast…” he told her in one text.
The media was barred from hearing Azzopardi’s partner testify. Following that testimony, Magistrate Gabriella Vella appointed a court expert to assess the relationship between the two.
Azzopardi’s partner confirmed that she wished to drop charges against Azzopardi, saying she had reported him in the heat of the moment and acted rashly.
After weeks of deliberation, the court chose to accede to her wishes.
Azzopardi was defended by lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Charles Mercieca.
Azzopardi is a notorious figure in the law courts and is currently defending himself against criminal charges in a variety of cases.
The most significant of those cases date to 2019 when he was arrested and charged with being at the helm of a nationwide drug operation that earned him the nickname ‘El Chapo of Malta’.
Police raided drug dens in Birkirkara, Balzan, Marsa, Gżira and Pietà as part of that operation, as well as Azzopardi’s rented villa in Madliena, where they found wads of cash hidden inside the walls of a shower.
That case is ongoing.