The daughter-in-law of a woman who had Parliament in tears when she claimed she had not seen her grandchildren in months wants the other side of the story to be heard too before drawing any conclusions.

“I was perceived as the cruel mother who was depriving the grandparents from seeing their grandchildren when the story is completely different,” Doreen Bartolo, 36, told the Times of Malta.

Watch: Ailing grandmother has Parliament in tears

She spoke to this newspaper after Josephine Bartolo told a special session of the House on October 7 she had lost her son Robert, 33, one year and four months ago and both she and her husband have not seen their grandchildren, aged eight and 10, since.

During that same sitting, Fondazzjoni Nanniet Malta called for a legal framework that allowed the courts to consider such pleas when making decisions on custody and care.

The foundation’s founder, Philip Chircop, said some elderly people were deprived of seeing their grandchildren because of squabbles between the parents.

The visits were stopped because of “hurtful” discourse about their mother

Doreen Bartolo is insisting that, after their son’s death, she had given the grandparents the opportunity to see their grandchildren every week. The children were still visiting their grandparents until September of last year, she told this newspaper but the visits were stopped because of “hurtful” talk about their mother.

Ms Bartolo said she still did not understand what led to this situation because it was damaging to speak in that manner to children who had already gone through the trauma of losing their father. This was unacceptable, she added.

The mother-of-two said she and her late husband had started separation proceedings before he fell ill but when he was diagnosed with cancer they halted proceedings.

While receiving treatment in the UK in December, 2014, Mr Bartolo had expressed his wish to see all three of them, she added.

The visit led to reconciliation between the two, a tearful Ms Bartolo said. “We decided that, once in Malta, we’ll move back together. I have no words to explain how beautiful that was.”

She described their reunion as being emotional, adding that, although he joined his wife and children the following February, Mr Bartolo later moved in with his parents on their insistence.

“His father warned me not to go near him in hospital because I would be held accountable if something happened to his son,” she added.

Sadly, Mr Bartolo passed away in May last year and Ms Bartolo said she only got to know about his death through Facebook.

She said she still took the children to the funeral but admitted she was disappointed that they had not seen their father before he passed away.

She said her mother-in-law’s speech in Parliament hurt her because she felt that both sides of the story should have been presented at the outset, and that the children should not have been named in public.

She insisted that grandparents should be allowed access to their children’s offspring.

Doreen Bartolo. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina