Bigamist acquitted over lack of evidence

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli heard how an anonymous letter received at the public registry claimed that the woman, now 56, was still married in the Philippines when she married Maltese national Ronald Cauchi in 2004.

However, the court held that the police failed to prove that the accused's former husband was still alive as the emails received from Interpol were not authenticated nor was the death certificate declared a forgery.

The police had interviewed Evangeline who declared that her former husband Francisco C. Hernandez, from whom she had three children, had abandoned their matrimonial home in 1994 while having an affair with another woman.

After raising the children on her own, Evangeline came to Malta and stayed with her cousin Ermelinda Mendoza Lewis until she went to live with Ronald Cauchi, now her husband.

The two had met following a newspaper advert and are now happily married. Following a row involving her cousin, the couple fell out and do not talk anymore.

Prior to her marriage on 14 August  2004, the Filipino presented a death certificate showing that her previous husband had passed away on 7 September 2002 after suffering a heart attack.

Since arriving in Malta in December 2001, the accused has gone visited her children in the Philippines twice. 

The police explained that it was only after a series of reminders that Interpol actually replied and informed the police that no records of the husband's death were found.

The authorities however failed to declare if the death certificate presented by the accused was a forgery and the accused had not been charged with using false documents. 

The prosecution also presented photos allegedly taken at a wedding whereby the accused appears in the company of another man claimed to be named Francisco.

Magistrate Demicoli noted that the prosecution did not request the relevant authorities in the Philippines for certification that Francisco was still alive and held that emails who's authors are unknown are not enough to convince the court that the accused was aware that her former husband was not dead at the time of contracting her second marriage.

The court reiterated that the prosecution failed to substantiate their case with evidence and acquitted the Filipino woman.

Dr Joseph Giglio appeared for the accused and Inspector Graziella Muscat prosecuted.