A woman was kicked, punched and had her head banged against the floor while being held captive for over seven hours.

But Malta's justice system allowed her aggressor to walk away without any effective consequence – even after he admitted to his actions.

Now she has spoken about how she feels “betrayed” by that system. 

The man was obliged not to bother her anymore after he admitted to threatening and slightly injuring the woman one night in November 2020, between 8pm and 4am.

The woman, who managed to escape from the apartment, spoke about how she was re-victimised by the system.

She exposed gaps that were allowing this to happen: her injuries were classified as “slight” because the doctor could only report on visible injuries, resulting in the aggressor being charged with a contravention – as opposed to a crime – that was heard in a rushed summary district sitting in January this year – 14 months after the case happened – where he was let off with no effective punishment.

“In court I felt lost and scared. I was told he would plead guilty. When my legal aid lawyer, who I met that morning, asked if I wanted to testify, I said I was uneasy,” she said.

“In a sitting that lasted a few minutes, the magistrate told him that once he admitted he was obliged not to speak to me anymore. That was it. I was in shock and speechless as I couldn’t believe the outcome since I had gone with hope for a consequence to what he had done and admitted to,” she added, noting that speaking up, and filing the report, was not easy.

“I’m lucky because I escaped… I still don’t know what would have happened had I not stolen the keys, managed to unlock and escape, as his threats were that both of us would never leave the apartment alive.

“The next woman might not be as lucky,” she said.

Speaking to Times of Malta, the woman recounted how she had started dating her partner at the end of 2019.

She never saw signs of violence. All she had noticed was that he did not like it when she spent time with friends. He also suffered from mood swings.

In August 2020, the couple decided to go on holiday. That was when she saw a more controlling and aggressive side to him when he pushed her to the ground, close to the edge of a hill, following an argument.

Then one evening in November 2020 she went to his house at about 7.30pm.

It was a Saturday and they planned to go out. But he said he was not in the mood. They argued and she told him she had had enough. He told her to “vanish”.

“I started packing my bags. I told him he was not keeping his deal as he had not gone to therapy as we agreed,” she says, adding she showed him she was angry and “he flipped”.

“We were in the bedroom and he started throwing my stuff all over the floor. Then he grabbed me, dragged me into the corridor and started punching me, kicking me and banging my head against the wall and floor,” she says .

“I did not react as I thought I would... I was in shock.”

'No one reported anything'

Throughout the ordeal, she was screaming. He lived in an apartment block but no one reported anything.

As he beat her, her partner kept telling her that they would not leave his apartment alive. He took her mobile and car keys, locked the main door and disconnected the landline.

“I had a black eye, and I was bleeding. He told me he did not want me to file a police report or he would lose everything again... again?

“So, this must had happened before?” she thought.

At one point he went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, gave it to her and told her to stab him.

“I chucked it behind the washing machine and asked him if he was mad. He got angry and started banging my head around again,” she said.

He then threw her on the sofa and tried to suffocate her with a cushion.

“That was the only time I fought back. I grabbed his face with my hand,” she says.

She waited until he got tired and fell asleep. At about 3am she managed to escape after quietly taking the keys of the apartment from beside him.

I hoped for justice

The following Monday, on advice of a close friend, she went to file a police report.

She was told she first had to get a medical certificate. She went to the Gżira health centre. It was during the pandemic and the doctor did not want to touch her.

“I told the doctor that my head was hurting the most and that it had been banged a lot.

“She said: ‘I will not write what I don’t see’. That was shocking. It made sense then – why he focused on the head.

“The system is helping people like him hit victims on the head, so it does not show. That was one of the first shocks after the experience.”

In a certificate seen by Times of Malta, the doctor certified the injuries as “slight, save complications” and documented bruising on the left eye, forehead, left knee and a cut lip.

Later that evening she went to file a report at police headquarters. The report, seen by Times of Malta, detailed the account of the woman. She was put in touch with a counsellor from Appoġġ agency whom she met several times.

The case was planned for May 2021 but was then deferred to January 2022 when it was decided by Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo in a district sitting.

After the shocking outcome, the woman asked for a copy of the judgment but was not given one because they are not typed out in summary cases.

The outcome of the case remained a blur until she reached out to Times of Malta who sent questions to the Justice Ministry.

A spokesperson said: “The minutes show that the proceedings were extinguished since the accused bound himself and stated in the acts of proceedings that he will only talk to the victim through their lawyers.

“The charges with the handwritten decision of the magistrate, declaring that the proceedings are extinguished, constitute a legal document.”

The woman’s legal aid lawyer, Charmaine Cherrett, confirmed that the accused admitted to the charges and that the magistrate obliged him not to bother the victim.

She noted that she understood the frustration of a victim. In this case, for some reason, her case was not dealt with as domestic violence but listed as summary district sitting.

“This outcome is a very common practice in summary court cases,” she explained, noting that the charges brought against the accused by the police were contraventions and not crimes, which meant they carried a minimal punishment.

Rushed outcome

Legal sources explained that slight injury is a charge that stands only if the victim presses charges. If the victim does not insist on the charge the case is extinguished and the aggressor obliges himself not to bother her.

The woman insisted she did not forgive him but did not testify which, somehow, impacted the court decision without her being aware of this.

The outcome of this case seems to have been the result of things being rushed during a busy district sitting, lawyers said.

The system has often been criticised because of delays in dealing with domestic violence cases.

Last year, Magistrate Lara Lanfranco was appointed to deal with all domestic violence cases to address the backlog of cases, that were previously spread across magistrates with some dealt with in district sittings.

In January 2022, some 300 domestic violence cases were pending before the one magistrate assigned to handle them.