A man who failed to pay child maintenance to his estranged wife has had a four-month jail term reduced to a six-month conditional discharge on appeal.

Mr Justice David Scicluna heard how, in February last year, the man had been jailed by the Magistrates’ Court for failing to pay maintenance between January and July 2013.

The man appealed, arguing that while it was true he had failed to pay maintenance, he contributed to his wife and daughter’s lives in other ways.

He said his wife worked and his daughter was no longer a minor. Even though he did not live with them he still paid the utility bills, among other things.

Apart from that, he said, he had told the Magistrates’ Court he was willing to pay the maintenance owed but the court had not given him time to do so.

Mr Justice Scicluna noted that, since then, the maintenance had been paid. He also said that the law, which allowed for imprisonment in such cases, was aimed at ensuring that maintenance was paid and not merely as a punishment for the breach of a court ruling.

In fact, the imprisonment of parents for failing to abide by court orders, during separation proceedings, had attracted the media spotlight in 2012 when a woman was jailed for three months for failing to grant her ex-husband access to their son on several occasions.

The woman, a teacher, spent 19 days in jail before being given a presidential pardon following a huge public outcry. Another one-month jail term, given to her for not paying maintenance on other occasions, had been converted into a €250 fine on appeal.