Couple make up, magistrate scolds them for wasting his time

A magistrate scolded a couple in court for having wasted the court's time and resources.

For the second day running, Magistrate Carol Peralta chastised the people appearing before him in his hall for wasting court time with their bickering.

The court scheduled to hear a case of a domestic incident between Josef Tabone, 26 of Hamrun, and Charlene Azzopardi, 25 of Mosta, that took place in May.

However, the couple summoned in court informed the magistrate there and then that they had forgave each other.

Upon hearing this, Peralta told off the couple for having wasted the court's time. "Every hearing costs €700, and if you saw the people waiting outside in the corridor, you'd know better than to use public service only to turn up in court and forgive each other."

Azzopardi gave a darting look to her mother, who was sitting next to her and rolled her eyes: "We had a normal and simple argument," she told the magistrate, "but she called the police."

Taking the witness stand, the mother told the court that she looked after the couple and their children. "It's not right that they constantly fight and argue in my house. I'm always stuck between them, and Tabone blames my daughter for all the arguments. I had had enough and I called the police," she told the court.

Peralta pointed at the police, his deputy registrar and the court reporters present in an admonishment: "You wasted all these people's time. If you're brought in my hall again I will fine you the total of these proceedings' costs."