A judge yesterday overruled a magistrate’s decision not to issue a protection order to a man whose lover’s husband stabbed him upon catching him in bed with her.

Mr Justice David Scicluna upheld an appeal filed by the police through the Attorney General’s office after Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona last Saturday ruled that a protection order was “not necessary”.

The judge issued a protection order covering both the victim and the wife of the accused. The defence did not object.

A Paola man, 38, whose name cannot be published by court order, pleaded guilty to seriously injuring a man whom he found in bed with his wife when he returned home early from work.

The court heard that the lover attacked the husband with a mug he found on the bedside table. The husband ran to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and returned to the bedroom, where he stabbed the lover in the face and hand.

The incident happened at the Paola matrimonial home last Friday at 10.30am.

Defence counsel Roberto Montalto told Mr Justice Scicluna his client was considering filing a criminal complaint over the mug attack. He pointed out that his client had admitted to the charges brought against him but the crime was “excusable at law”. He said the husband had been threatened and provoked and was reacting with sudden passion when he found himself in that situation.

Despite the admission, the case will be heard as if he pleaded not guilty, because the court must hear evidence to sustain the claim that there had been provocation.

Police Inspector Spiridione Zammit prosecuted. Lawyers Kevin Valletta and Vincienne Vella appeared for the Attorney General’s office.