The mother of a four-year-old boy who was jailed for a week after allegedly refusing to let the father see his son has been acquitted by an appeals court.

The woman was let off because she was not notified that Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri, hearing the custody case, had issued a decree ordering her to let the German father see his son.

Magistrate Antonio Vella had jailed her for one week on January 12 for disobeying a court decree on two consecutive days in September last year. She immediately appealed the decision saying that the punishment was excessive, that she had not been notified that she had to allow access to the father and that the Magistrates' Court had considered that she was a first-time offender.

The woman had testified that when her child was born she had tried her best to accommodate the father and had an "open house policy" where he was able to see his son whenever he wanted to. Even though he lived in Germany, he would often visit the island and spend time with the boy. After a while the father had started harassing her. She said he would send text messages and e-mails and would remark that he was not happy with the situation. He had even threatened to take the child back to Germany.

According to the decree, the father could see his son only in the presence of two policemen, a bailiff and two social workers.

The woman said the boy told her he would only play with his father because he was scared of the policemen. The situation had reached such a stage where people would comment about how ill the boy looked. It was as if he had cancer, she said.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono found that the court that had issued the decree had not notified the person who was at the centre of the issue, that is the mother. Since she had not been notified of the decree, the court could not have found her guilty of breaching the order.