The law must be amended to ensure it protects anyone attacked by a partner in circumstances presently not deemed to be incidents of domestic violence, according to the National Council of Women.
Council president Grace Attard said she was deeply concerned about a recent court judgment regarding a case of “domestic violence viewed practically by all the Maltese population” after a video was posted on YouTube.
The footage shows a drunken man attacking a woman in public and she can be heard screaming. The man was last week cleared of all charges directly related to the woman because she dropped the charges. The charges included assaulting, threatening and pushing her. He was found guilty of breaching the peace, offending public morals and being drunk in public and was fined €175.
Although the two were a couple at the time of the attack, the court could not treat the matter as a case of domestic violence, which would have meant the police could prosecute irrespective of the victim’s decision to drop charges. Domestic violence, legally speaking, refers to an act committed against a household member. The law goes on to list those who constitute a household member and does not include people who are dating, unless they lived together for a year before the offence.
“The law must be seen to be delivering justice. Sending the wrong message to society can reinforce this despicable behaviour,” Ms Attard said as she called for an immediate revision of the law.
“The case was a public act of violence, even if not interpreted as domestic violence. Does it mean a report on an act of violence in public will be treated as ‘breaching the public peace’ without taking into consideration that it could be life-threatening,” she wondered.