Hope I will not have to report daughter's death, magistrate told

A man who had been convicted of stabbing his former partner repeatedly threatened to kill her after serving time, a court heard yesterday.

A woman told Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima her daughter had once been stabbed by James Demanuele, from who she had a daughter, and now that he was out of jail he threatened to kill her.

"I hope I will not have to come here and tell you that my daughter is dead," the witness told the magistrate.

She was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Mr Demanuele, 31 of Tarxien, who is pleading not guilty to threatening to kill his ex-partner and causing between Lm50 and Lm500 of damage to her car on August 27.

Mr Demanuele is also pleading not guilty to damaging the main door of her parent's house, breaching the peace and relapsing.

The victim's sister explained how, on the Friday before the incident, Mr Demanuele had gone to her sister's work place and threatened to kill her. Her sister called the police who drove her home and told her that if she was scared to go for her car it could be towed to her house.

On the day of the incident, the sisters left their home to take the car keys to the tow truck when they spotted Mr Demanuele and so ran back to the house.

The sister was looking through the eye hole of the door when she saw her father had come home from work and so the two sisters opened the main door to let him in.

Their father walked inside and Mr Demanuele kicked the door in an attempt to get in. After some time Mr Demanuele moved away from the door and the sister said she saw him through the eye hole hitting her sister's car.

At the end of the sitting Mr Demanuele was granted bail on condition he does not leave his home and against a Lm10,000 deposit and a personal guarantee of Lm10,000.