‘Misled’ husband acquitted on appeal

A man convicted of failing to pay alimony to his wife was acquitted on appeal, after court noted that the charges he was convicted of where time barred.

On 7 October 2013, the man was found guilty of failing to pay maintenance for the months of January and February last year, and handed a month’s jail term. However he appealed judgement.

The estranged husband said he was notified of the case on 3 September; however the alleged offence took place in January and February – seven months earlier.

The appellant argued that the offence had a six-month time bar, hence was extinguished.

Furthermore, he claimed that his former wife had told him he did not need to file a reply to the application she had filed before the Family Court during the mediation stage.

“I trusted her and was then faced with a court decree to pay €400 monthly. An amount which I could not afford as I only earned €860 monthly. The situation got worse when I became unemployed”, he said.

Mr Justice Michael Mallia, ruled that in issuing the decree the Family Court was not aware that the husband was mislead into not filing his reply.

“The court did not know that the appellant had not seen his children for over six months, nor that he was actively looking for employment. The man wants to pay maintenance for his children but in amounts he can afford”, the judge said.

The Court of Appeal upheld the arguments of the estranged husband, revoked the previous judgement and acquitted the man of all charges raised against him.