Victim recounts how girlfriend ran him over

A woman, 35, of Bahar ic-Caghaq, is charged with the attempted murder of her lover on the night of 21 May, at Bahar ic-Caghaq. Since both the accused and the victim have children from their previous marriage, the court banned the publishing of the names of both the victim and the accused to protect the children.

Walking into the courtroom on crutches and testifying from a chair, the victim recounted how his girlfriend had already tried running him down with a car on a previous date.

Questioned by parte civile lawyer Michael Sciriha about the couple’s past grievances, the victim said, “We have filed reports against each other various times. A month before this incident, she was driving a rental car and tried to run me down with it. Thankfully I wasn’t injured because the car had very small wheels. I did not file a police report.”

Sciriha then asked the victim to recall the night of the incident. The man explained how the accused picked him up from home and took him to Naxxar for an errand.

Later, while drinking at a Qawra bar, another patron walked in and the victim accused his girlfriend of eyeing up the other man. “She denied, but then again she always denies doing these things”, the victim told the court. “So I decided we should leave to avoid trouble”.

“She handed me the keys to her car and we decided that I would drive to Bahar ic-Caghaq, where she lives. We kept arguing over what happened at the bar. My intention was to take her to where she lives, then get a taxi or walk home. This had happened before”, he said. Questioned about allegations that he had hit her while driving, the man replied, “how could I hit her and drive?”

Upon arrival at Bahar ic-Caghaq the man reached to the passenger side, took his keys and got out of the vehicle. “I started walking up the road towards Splash & Fun, but looking back I saw her get in her car and speed towards me. She only missed hitting me because I jumped onto a nearby wall. We started arguing again – she inside the car, me outside” he explained, continuing that his lover kept shouting, “if I don’t have you, no one else will”.

In an attempt to walk away, the victim crossed the street but the accused again drove at him. “She came towards me, went over the pavement and hit me head on. As I fell to the floor, she reversed and fled the scene with screeching tyres.

"I called my brother to come and take me to hospital. However moments later she returned. I was scared that she would run me over again, so I threatened her with a stone, but never threw anything at her. I begged her to take me to hospital”.

In the incident the man suffered three fractured toes, a smashed toe and had lesions across his foot. He said there was a little blood on his feet and doubted there was blood on the road.

While the victim begged his lover to take him to hospital, the woman insisted that he sign his car over to her.  Eventually she drove him to the hospital.

“She scared the living daylights out of me. The way she was driving made me think she wanted to crash into a wall and kill us both. She insulted me, mentioning my children and my father. Her words hurt."

After stopping briefly, the accused drove the victim to Mater Dei. “I had no intention of escalating matters. I simply wanted my foot fixed but the medical officers informed investigators about the incident”, he said.

Prosecuting officer Josric Mifsud took the witness stand giving details of the investigation. At 2am of 22 May the police were informed about a traffic accident in which a man had suffered grievous injuries. The call came from hospital.

At hospital, a police sergeant spoke to the victim. “The victim said that his aggressor had driven him to hospital herself, after running him down with her car. We also arrested and questioned the woman”, the inspector said.

The accused released a statement alleging that while driving down from Qawra, her boyfriend had verbally abused her and also hit her. “She told us that when they got to Bahar ic-Caghaq, he started throwing stones at her car, and then jumped in front of the vehicle. He suffered foot injuries, and she took him to hospital,” the witness explained.

Defence lawyer Gianella de Marco argued that the woman had hit the victim when she lost control of her vehicle due to the stones he was throwing at her. De Marco asked if CCTV from a nearby ice-cream vendor had been analyzed.

Court appointed technical expert Joe Zammit said he had analysed the damages on the vehicle and prepared a report, which showed considerable damage to the car’s front end, compatible with a crash into a pavement.

Zammit also gave details of how one of the tyres was burst and the rim severely damaged. On the tyre thread there was white fatty matter and blood.

On the request of lawyer Michael Sciriha, the court appointed DNA expert, Dr Marisa Cassar to analyse the skin, fat matter and blood found on one of the tyres of the accused’s car. Another court expert was appointed to analyse the CCTV footage mentioned by the accused.

Lawyers Gianella de Marco and Joe Giglio are appearing for the accused. Dr Michael Sciriha and son Lucio Sciriha are representing the victim.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit is presiding.