A father from Senglea was conditionally discharged for 18 months today after being found guilty on appeal of grievously injuring his infant son.

The case dates back to April 2007 when 33 year old Jonathan Calleja was entrusted with the care of his 3-month old son while the mother, Isabelle Busuttil, popped out to a DVD store.

The accused was playing at the computer and the continuous crying of the child irritated him, the court heard. In an attempt to quieten the cries, the man allegedly began to toss the child up and down and at one point had to grab him roughly by the hand to avoid dropping him to the floor.

The court noted that the accused had admitted to the police that he was 'a rough and savage person by nature' and that he had often handled the child roughly because he knew no better.

Following the alleged incident the boy was taken to hospital by the mother who grew alarmed upon noticing that the child's eyes were bloodshot and that he was unable to move his left hand.

Mr Calleja had been charged with having subjected the child to cruel treatment , with having failed to take proper care of the child and with having inflicted upon the boy slight injuries which were likely to cause a permanent debility.

The man was initially cleared of all charges in 2012 when the Magistrates' Court declared that the prosecution had failed to prove that the maltreatment was intentional.

The Attorney General appealed the judgment arguing that three medical experts had been in no doubt that the child's injuries had been caused by violence. One had reported the infant as having suffered bruising below his left eye, left ear and on the left side of his chest and his left arm was also fractured.

The Appeals Court noted that the accused had initially told police that he had dropped the child when he was throwing and catching him to stop it from crying. In his initial statement, he had also admitted to squeezing the boy when his cries had become irritating. Whatever the reason this would still constitute negligence on the father's part, the court observed

The Court of Criminal Appeal, presided by Mr Justice David Scicluna, however, noted that the guilty verdict had placed a great deal of emphasis on the man's statement, which had been released before he was allowed access to a lawyer and was declared inadmissable as evidence.

The court overturned the acquittal despite this, observing that “whilst it is true that the appellant cannot be found guilty of voluntarily inflicting grievous injury, this did not mean that he could not be found guilty of doing so involuntarily.”