A court yesterday ordered a man not to speak to his wife-to-be, whom he is due to marry in two weeks' time, after he was charged with threatening to kill her with a shotgun.

A seemingly trivial incident turned deadly serious after the father of 23-year-old Thomas Azzopardi joked with his son's fiancée, Clarissa Mifsud, that the wedding was costing him a fortune.

The young woman was allegedly offended by this comment and an argument ensued between the young couple during which he threatened to kill her. Ms Mifsud then told her parents about the incident. The argument between the families escalated when her father, George Mifsud, went to Mr Azzopardi's house in Għargħur and got into an argument with him. On being arraigned yesterday, Mr Azzopardi pleaded not guilty to slightly injuring Mr Mifsud at the house, threatening to kill his fiancée, threatening her over the phone and relapsing.

Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona decided to grant bail to the accused against a personal guarantee of €3,000 but ordered him not to speak to Ms Mifsud or to her parents.

Police Inspector Kevin Farrugia prosecuted.

Lawyers Joseph Giglio and Stephen Tonna Lowell appeared for Mr Azzopardi.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.