A man paid €3,000 to cast a spell on a woman involved in an extra-marital affair with a married man, with the aim of reuniting her with her own husband, was today acquitted of fraud, by a Gozitan court.

The police had pressed charges against Mario Cardona, 36, from Victoria following a police report that the ‘client’ had filed against him when it transpired that the spell had not worked.

The woman felt she didn't get her money's worth from the Pazuzu spell. Photo: Wikipedia

The case dates back to October  2014, when a woman asked Mr Cardona to cast a spell on another woman with whom her husband, Iain Gilbert Milroy, was having an affair.  

The court heard that the spell involved a ritual invoking a demon by the name of “Pazuzu” which would result in the termination of the extra-marital affair, thus paving the way for the couple to go back together.

In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu was the king of the demons of the wind. 

Subsequently, Mr Milroy became suspicious that his wife was plotting something against him, when he accidentally came across a message Mr Cardona had sent to his wife’s Facebook account. The couple have since divorced.

Mr Cardona did not deny requesting money, insisting with the police, that he used to offer his “service” against a fee.  

In its decision the court presided by Magistrate Joe Mifsud said that by no stretch of imagination one could ever conclude that that Mr Cardona had deceived the woman, as she had been the one who requested the service.

Police inspector Frank Anthony Tabone testified that after filing a report against the accused, Ms Milroy never showed interest to press criminal charges against Mr Cardona.

The woman had complained that Mr Cardona had failed to return the money, the court heard.

Magistrate Mifsud noted that this was primarily a civil case as the wife had also complained that her estranged husband had withdrawn money from her bank account.

Consequently, at the end of the compilation of evidence the court threw out the case against Mr Cardona who was cleared of all charges.  

Police inspector Bernard Charles Spiteri prosecuted, while lawyer Joshua Grech was defence counsel.