A man who allegedly assaulted and then locked up his partner after a row over a deleted phone message was taken to court on Sunday and remanded in custody.

A magistrate heard that the argument broke out at about 2am on Friday when the man, Tyler Camilleri, 24, wanted to know what was behind a Facebook message which was received by his partner and deleted by the sender. She had tried to explain that the sender was a friend on Facebook and the message was harmless. But matters escalated and the woman was allegedly beaten on her face and head, suffering slight injuries. She was then locked up for hours in the house in Zejtun she shared with her partner.

The woman, whose name cannot be published by court order, managed to contact her mother and she was rescued by her mother’s partner, who climbed over a wall to get access to the locked house.

She was then examined at Paola health centre. While she was there her partner showed up and tried to get to her by telling the security officer that he was her brother, but her mother told the officer that her daughter had no siblings.

A police report was then filed.

Camilleri was accused of injuring his partner, holding her against her will and causing her to fear violence. He was also accused of breaking the conditions of a probation order and being a recidivist. He pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution objected to a request for bail in view of the accused's record, saying he could not be trusted, Prosecutors also pointed to the seriousness of the case and the fact that civilians still had to testify.

The defence argued that the witnesses should have been presented immediately, pointing out that up to some time ago, such cases used to be summarily heard and concluded in one sitting. Now a person with a steady job who needed to support his family ended up having to undergo a lengthy process. 

It was also pointed out that the accused had suffered a knife wound by the alleged victim.

Magistrate Gianella Camilleri Busuttil refused bail but ordered the prosecution to produce its witnesses at the next sitting.

Inspector Audrey Micallef prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were defence counsel.