Court declares null 'marriage of convenience'

The marriage of a Moroccan woman to a Maltese man has been declared null and void after a court ruled the woman took advantage of the man's state of mental health to acquire a Maltese citizenship.

Mr Justice Raymond Pace, who presided over the Civil Court's Family Section, heard how the man and the woman got married at the Public Registry on August 19, 2002. But the man eventually asked the court to declare the marriage null and void.

After evaluating the evidence brought before him, Mr Justice Pace noted that evidence showed that the man suffered from a "psychological anomaly" that made him incapable of fulfilling his marriage obligations and, in fact, a psychiatrist explained that the man had mental health problems.

Apart from this, it seemed like the marriage was one of convenience. In fact, after they got married, the couple hardly lived together. The man lived with his relatives and went to visit the woman sometimes.

Their marriage had not been consummated and their relationship only lasted a few months after which they did not remain in touch.

"It seemed clear that the woman took advantage of the man's condition to reach her goals, which had nothing to do with the essential elements of marriage. She exploited the man so that she could acquire the right to remain in Malta," the court ruled.

In light of this, Mr Justice Pace upheld the man's request and decaled the marriage null and void in terms of article 19 (1) of the Marriage Act which lays down that a marriage is void if the consent of either of the parties is vitiated by a serious psychological anomaly which makes it impossible for that party to fulfill the essential obligations of marriage or if either of the parties did not have sufficient powers of intellect to elicit matrimonial consent at the time of contracting marriage.