An unemployed couple have been accused of spending the funds donated to them for their son's cancer treatment on horse races and online gambling.

The 31-year-old man and his 27-year-old partner from Mosta were charged with fraud and money laundering on Thursday.

The court banned the publication of their names to protect one of their alleged victims - their own seven-year-old child.

Times of Malta first reported that the parents, who deny the charges, were under investigation last year. 

The man was separately charged with knowingly handling stolen goods and breaching a probation order issued last year.

The court heard that he squandered the funds intended to cover the costs of their son’s medical treatment by placing bets on horse races and online gambling.

Attorney General lawyer Karl Muscat, prosecuting, said that although the bets were placed in his partner’s name, it was actually the man who was gambling, using the woman’s bank accounts.

However, the woman was aware of all that was going on.

As the court heard objections by the prosecution to a request for bail, the accused man, seated alongside his partner, made the sign of the cross, shaking his head as though in disagreement and visibly close to tears when the couple’s son was mentioned.

Their lawyer, Noel Bianco, insisting on bail, argued that the accused were both Maltese citizens with a fixed address and a young child whose illness made him highly dependent on both parents.

“They are the world to him and he means everything to them,” said the lawyer, pointing out further that the couple had abided by all conditions during the time they had been out on police bail.

They had approached none of the prosecution’s witnesses.

26-page criminal record

The prosecution said that although it did not object to the mother’s bail request, it did object to the father getting bail.

The man had a voluminous “26-page long” criminal record. “He’s not to be trusted,” said Muscat, adding that the fear of tampering with evidence was real.

The defence counsel countered that the child was attached to his father. Denying him bail would have repercussions on the child.

Magistrate Astrid May Grima, upheld the request for bail in favour of the mother, but remanded the father in custody.

That decision brought tears to the woman’s eyes as her partner patted her on the leg, consolingly.

The woman was granted bail against a deposit of €1000, and a personal guarantee of €10,000. She was ordered to sign the bail book once weekly and steer clear of any of the prosecution witnesses.

“Think of your child,” warned the magistrate.

The court also issued a freezing order on all assets of the accused.

The requested ban on names was objected to by the prosecution who argued that by publishing the accused’s names, future donors might think twice before handing over donations to the couple.

But that argument was dismissed by the magistrate who stated that the court was issuing the ban only because one of the victims was their own child. 

Inspectors Robert Azzopardi and Tonjoe Farrugia also prosecuted.