Man cleared of slicing off wife's fingertip

A man has been declared innocent of slicing off the tip of his wife’s finger during a domestic dispute, after a magistrate held that she could not find guilt on the basis of what was effectively hearsay evidence.

The man, who cannot be named by order of the court, had been arraigned under arrest last August. Magistrate Doreen Clarke had heard prosecuting Inspector Christabelle Chetcuti explain how, on the 26 August this year, the police had been called to a residence in Attard after receiving a call for assistance from one of the couple’s children.

Inspector Chetcuti said that an argument about possible separation proceedings had turned violent when the accused snatched his wife’s iPhone from her hands and broke it. The accused had then threatened his wife with a kitchen knife and had inadvertently sliced off the tip of her finger with it.

The wife had told the police that this had not been the first time they had fought, claiming that he had held a knife to her throat when he had found out that she was seeing someone else, some two months before.

The victim and her children had chosen not to testify in the proceedings against the accused. 

The court held that even though an incident had taken place, the evidence presented was simply “hearsay evidence.” 

It noted that apart from the accused, the only witnesses in this case were his partner and their three children, all of whom had declined to testify. 

In view of this the court presided by Magistrate Doreen Clarke acquitted the man. 

Lawyers Shazoo Ghaznavi, Charlon Gouder, Joseph Gerada and Mark Vassallo appeared for the accused. Lawyer Abigail Critien, appeared parte civile for the woman.