A man got his marriage annulled because he only wed his partner to prevent her from having an abortion and after her mother had threatened him with a knife.

The man, who was only 18 at the time, told a court he had been determined to shoulder his responsibilities as a father and would have done anything in his power to stop his partner from aborting their baby.

And he was so scared of her mother, who wanted the abortion, that he felt he had no choice but to get married to his partner who is two years older than him.

Madam Justice Jacqueline Padovani Grima, presiding over the Family Court, heard that the couple got married in 1999 but the marriage was a forced one.

They lived together as “brother and sister”, with “non-existent intimacy”.

The man testified that they had met in Paceville and started dating. She became pregnant about two years later and the news did not go down well with her family.

Her mother threatened him with a knife for impregnating her daughter and insisted she get an abortion because of what people would say about her.

Cohabiting was not an option as the mother did not want her daughter to leave her house unless she was married.

Marriage, he told the court, seemed to be his only option.

On his wedding day, he felt unhappy that he was going ahead with something he didn’t want to do, but felt it was his only way to see his son being born.

The wedding was followed by a dinner for about 20 people and the couple did not go on honeymoon.

Married life was not easy, he said. They fought most of the time and at one point he left for about eight months to go and live with his mother.

His father had abandoned him when he was 10 and he missed a father figure during his childhood. He was adamant not to repeat this mistake, so he decided to return to the matrimonial home – and had remained there since – so he could continue to be present in his son’s life.

This factor influenced every decision he took, he said. 

The couple went to a family therapist, who recommended they split up. But they ignored his advice. 

'Pregnancy was difficult'

The woman admitted in court that her pregnancy was a difficult time for her because her family’s values ​​did not allow a child to be born out of wedlock.

Although she denied that her family wanted her to have an abortion, she said that her aunt had mentioned it as an option and even offered to help her get it done.

She said her husband was “double-faced” – she had caught him seeing other women throughout their marriage. He used to tell people he was a single parent.

Madam Justice Padovani Grima ruled that consent had been vitiated by violence and pressure, which influenced the man’s decision.

“The court is convinced that the plaintiff did not want to marry and the only factor that prompted him to marry was the fact that he did not want to be rejected by his son,” the judge said.

The court was morally convinced that the husband got married to protect his son’s life because of the “immense pressure” to terminate the pregnancy. Neither of the two had been prepared for marriage, the judge observed.

The only thing holding them together was love for the child, who was now an adult.

She, therefore, pronounced the marriage null and void.