Judge opts to suspend jail term

A man found guilty of assaulting his former partner following an argument on their son's custody had a two-month jail term suspended by an appeal court.

The court suspended the jail term for a maximum of four years after ruling it would be more beneficial to all involved, including the child.

"In the circumstances it would be in the interest of all parties, including the minor's, if the effective jail term were suspended for the maximum period allowed by law," Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono ruled.

The judge, who was presiding over the Court of Criminal Appeal, added that the suspension of the jail term would act like a hatchet suspended above the father's head and would ensure he behaved himself when he met with the mother of his child.

On June 21, 2006, the father and the mother had met in front of the Paola police station so that the mother would hand over their five-year-old son to his father. The mother said the boy started crying and, when she lifted him up, the father insisted she hand over the child. The father grabbed her face, pulled her hair and slammed her against the wall, she said.

In a contrasting version of events, the father said that, on the day he had asked the mother why she had not given him the father's day card their son had made for him. The mother replied that the boy did not want to give him the card but the father reminded her it was the boy who told him about it.

He added that, as he was walking to the car with his son, the mother started shouting at him to give her back her son.

He denied laying his hands on her.

Earlier this month, the Magistrates' Court found the father guilty of slightly injuring the mother and jailed him for two months. He appealed, claiming that the first court was wrong to find him guilty and that the jail term was excessive.

The Court of Criminal Appeal examined the evidence and found that the first court was justified to find the father guilty, especially since the mother's version was corroborated by her injuries.

The appeal court, however, suspended the two-month jail term for four years as it felt it would be more beneficial to all parties involved.

Names are not being published to protect the identity of the child.