Court suspends man's jail sentence to protect his sister

A 27-year-old Zabbar man, who had been jailed for six months for regularly beating up his younger sister, had his jail term suspended for four years on appeal.

This was because Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, presiding over the appeal, ruled that suspending the jail term for the maximum of four years would be in the best interest of both the accused and his sister who would have had to face his anger once he returned home after six months behind bars.

The Magistrates' Court had jailed Milovan Camilleri for slightly injuring his sister over the past years.

The court had heard the young woman explain that her brother had been beating her up since she was six and had even dislodged her cheekbone and burst her eardrum.

The witness said she was so afraid of her brother that she lived in the garage with her 15-month-old daughter. They slept on a mattress and at night felt the chill creep in from under the garage door.

On December 9, 2005, when she was in the garage with her daughter, her brother became aggressive when her daughter touched some of his tools.

When she noticed that he was about to get violent she put the toddler in the playpen.

Mr Camilleri punched a cupboard and everything on it went crashing to the ground. He was about to hit her when her mother intervened and stopped him momentarily.

The young woman explained that she then kicked his car, without damaging it since it was covered in cardboard.

As she ran for the garage door, her brother grabbed and slammed her against it. He started punching her in the face as he held a (drinking) glass in his hand. That day she reported the case to the police.

Mr Camilleri appealed the Magistrates' Courts judgment arguing that the punishment was excessive since it did not take into account that he was a first-time offender and jailing him would mean throwing him into a wolves' den.

Mr Justice Galea Debono noted that the first court was justified in handing down a six-month jail term since Mr Camilleri faced a punishment ranging between three months and a year.

However, a jail term meant that after serving time, Mr Camilleri would go back home and come in contact with his sister with a sense of grievance because he had been jailed because of her and this, the court noted, was detrimental to the sister.

On the other hand, the court had to ensure the sister's safety for as long as possible and that her brother never laid a hand on her again.

After reflecting at length over the matter, the judge ruled that the best way to take into account Mr Camilleri's clean criminal record, and to ensure the victim's safety, would be to suspend the jail term.

He added that he would have liked to place Mr Camilleri under a supervision order but could not, since the sentence handed down by the first court did not exceed six months.

Police Inspector Anthony Cassar prosecuted.

Lawyers Chris Soler and Duncan Borg Myatt appeared for the man.