Brothers fought to protect their sister

Three men were this morning given suspended sentences for their involvement in a fight after they believed their sister’s life was at risk.

Carmel Vella, who was jailed for six years in an unrelated case last Tuesday, had a previous suspended jail term extended by a year after he was found guilty of slightly injuring Richard Cuschieri.

His brother Louis received a one-year prison term suspended for two years for seriously injuring Mr Cuschieri and their brother, who cannot be mentioned because he was 15 when the incident happened, was given a six-month prison term suspended for two years for slightly injuring a man with a sharp and pointed instrument, damaging parts of the St Luke’s Hospital canteen and slightly injuring a policeman.

The fight between the Vellas and the Cuschieris had taken place at St Luke’s Hospital in 2003.

The Vella’s sister Charlone Cuschieri, who was married to Richard Cuschieri, was recovering at St Luke’s after she had been punched in the stomach by her husband, who also drove into her. She was seven-months pregnant.

While the Vellas went to hospital to see their sister, the Cuschieris also went there to visit their grandmother, who had received the last rites.

When the Vellas passed by the canteen they saw the Cuschieri family en masse and went to check what was going on.

The court concluded that the vulnerability of Charlone and her baby, in view of the wounds inflicted by her husband, as well as the massive presence of the Cuschieri family, had all contributed to make the Vella brothers conclude that there was a serious threat to their sister and her baby.