A domestic violence victim who claims her husband pointed a gun at her, forcing her to live in abject terror, has filed a judicial protest after the police failed to arraign him.

The judicial protest was filed against the Police Commissioner and Attorney General by lawyers Lara Dimitrijevic and Stephanie Caruana on behalf of Claire Pisani, 34.

The lawyers accuse the authorities of failing to recognise the gravity of the situation and criticise the lack of information and lack of protection afforded to Ms Pisani.

Ms Pisani says she has been suffering abuse at the hands of her husband – with whom she has three young children – for years. The abuse was so frequent she even filed a number of police reports.

Her husband, she notes, was found guilty numerous times and was handed two protection orders and a personal guarantee in her favour. The man is facing violence-related charges in court, was granted bail and has, so far, already breached his bail conditions twice and was fined, according to the judicial protest.

She is so petrified that she does not leave her home, not even to attend a court sitting. She needs to be accompanied by many people

Ms Pisani recounts that, on March 16, in spite of the protection orders issued, he waited for her in a car outside their children’s school and, on seeing her, he brandished what looked like a gun, kissed it and pointed it at her. Terrified, Ms Pisani says she ran to the police station and asked officers to accompany her to the school so she could pick up her children. She also filed a police report.

The gun turned out to be fake, but Ms Pisani and her family still feared he would follow through with his threat. Ms Pisani informed the police her husband had required treatment after phoning to tell her that if she did not go back to him he would commit suicide.

According to the judicial protest, the man was arrested on the day of the fake gun incident, resisting the officers who had restrain him. He was released the following day, with no steps taken against him so far.

Ms Pisani complains that she was kept completely in the dark about the case and any information was only obtained by her lawyers through the grapevine.

“My client is absolutely terrified that her husband could cause her harm. She is so petrified that she does not leave her home, not even to attend a court sitting. She needs to be accompanied by many people,” Dr Dimitrijevic told this newspaper.

Malta has a Victim of Crimes Act and the Istanbul convention on preventing and combating violence against women was ratified in 2014.

“Malta has bound itself to protect victims of domestic violence and children. It is absolutely unacceptable that legal obligations are not followed through, especially with such a case, when the man is mentally and emotionally unstable and was violent even with police officers.

“I find it very worrying that people sometimes excuse such perpetrators because of mental health problems, saying: ‘Għax miskin’ [poor thing].

“What about the victim? Yes, the perpetrator needs help and we are offering help but there are legal obligations to protect the victim. It’s high time the police and the State start following through on them,” Dr Dimitrijevic said.