Jilted husband charged with death threats

A husband who was unable to come to terms with his estranged wife taking a lover has been charged with making a series of Facebook threats against the couple.

Finn Juha Olavi Soderholm, a 38-year old self-employed man living in Sliema had taken to posting offensive Facebook messages about his wife who had filed for divorce after starting a relationship with a Maltese man.

But the police had to intervene during the weekend when Soderholm posted death threats to his wife’s new lover.

In court this morning, the accused replied that he was “still married” when asked by duty magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit whether his relationship with his wife had ended.

The man pleaded not guilty to insulting the woman’s new boyfriend, making death threats and harassment of his wife and her boyfriend.

In his submissions on bail, lawyer Noel Cutajar highlighted the fact that the defendant was “angry and upset” about the breakup of his marriage, but had no intention of following through on his threats.

“Writing is one thing, actually doing it is another,” the lawyer said.

Prosecuting police inspector Matthew Spagnol informed the court that no weapons were found when the police had searched the man’s home.

Bail was granted against a deposit of €800, a personal guarantee of €5,000 and ordered to sign a bail book three times weekly and observe a curfew.

A Protection Order was issued in favour of the couple, with the court warning him to avoid all attempts at making contact with them until the case was over.