The husband of a woman who is a mother of six children fathered by different men was arrested and arraigned over an alleged case of domestic abuse.

The unemployed Syrian national, residing at Marsascala, pleaded not guilty on Friday to having allegedly beaten his partner and their child, inflicting slight injuries, causing the woman to fear violence as well as misusing telecommunications equipment. He was further charged with escaping from police custody.

Senior prosecuting Inspector Trevor Micallef explained in court how the man had allegedly turned violent and had hit out at the woman and his son.

The victim took the witness stand to declare that she had since forgiven the accused, so long as there was no further harassment on his part.

The man pleaded not guilty to the charges.

When making submissions on bail, defence lawyers Franco Galea and Lucio Sciriha pointed out that although the man had escaped from police custody after his interrogation, he had been returned to police custody by his family, one hour after his escape.

Moreover, it was argued that the man had a clean criminal sheet and resided apart from the victims, at a different locality altogether.

The prosecution countered that the man was in Malta illegally and always came up with excuses when summoned by the police, prompting the defence to rebut that their client had valid documents in Malta.

In the light of these submissions, the court, presided over by magistrate Rachel Montebello, upheld the request for bail against a deposit of €300 and a personal guarantee of €3,000.