Coffin exhibited in wife-beating case

A woman, who was allegedly beaten on the head with an ornamental wooden balcony in December, yesterday told the court her husband had even prepared a small wooden coffin for her.

Testifying in the compilation of evidence against her 52-year-old husband, the woman said he beat her up regularly and she had moved out of the matrimonial home as she could not stand it anymore after 22 years.

The accused is pleading not guilty to seriously injuring his wife, threatening to kill her and hindering her from accessing their matrimonial home by changing the lock.

"He beat me two to three times a week for the past 22 years. I used to cry and pray and make vows hoping he'd change. One day he told me I'd end up like Sylvia King and he even brought a small coffin he had made and told me I'd end up in it. I was afraid he would really set me alight because since I am of slender build, I could fit in the coffin he made," she said.

The woman said she was petrified as her husband knew Joseph Harrington, who had been jailed for life for the murder of Mrs King who was burnt alive in a car at Il-Kuncizzjoni in 1993.

Almost with tears in her eyes, the woman exhibited in court a one-metre long coffin.

She said her 22-year-old daughter had left home and was living in a squalid room in Paola because her father used to beat her up too and her 19-year-old son too had left home because he could not take it anymore.

The woman testified that on December 18, together with her brother, her son and the son of her other brother, she went to her Marsascala home and her son knocked and went in first.

"I could not go in as he (the husband) had changed the lock. My brother told my husband we were not there to pick a fight and I told him he should go and live in the other house we had so that I could live with my children in Marsascala as the school van could only collect our daughter from there and I could no longer afford to pay Lm100 in rent per month."

She said she was stupefied to see Christmas decorations and lights on in the house. "We always lived in the dark when he was around." She pulled a plug to switch off the Christmas decorations and tore up photos of her husband and her son that were on the TV set.

Questioned by the defence why she tore up the photos, she replied: "I tore them up because he never loved our children and now that we left he wanted to have photos of him with them. Love comes from the heart not from photos," she said.

She said her husband grabbed a decorative wooden balcony he himself had made and started hitting her on the head with it. He also punched her and her son intervened to stop him.

The woman testified that she was taken to the Health Centre where she had sutures applied to her forehead and head. She said she had to stay indoors for some nine days because of the bruise on one of her eyes.

The case continues. Police Inspector Anthony Cassar prosecuted. Dr Noel Camilleri appeared in parte civile. Dr Albert Libreri was defence counsel. Personal details are not being published to protect the identity of the woman and her family.