A man who had several reports filed against him by his wife was this morning acquitted of all charges with the Court deciding the wife had a hidden agenda.

Anthony Pisani, 51, of Marsascala had been charged with a number of offences, including threatening to kill his wife, harassing their daughter Annrina, offending public morals, carrying a knife illegally and driving dangerously.

The charges had been based on reports filed against him with the police by his wife Maryrose.

Back in June 2006, Police Inspector Anthony Cassar had testified that in May that year, Mrs Pisani had found the gas knob turned on when she woke up at 6.30 a.m. She said that she had heard her husband downstairs the previous night.

The inspector said that he had sent for Mr Pisani, who confirmed he had returned home but not that he had opened the gas knob.

In another report, Mrs Pisani claimed her husband had held a knife to her throat in the presence of their daughter.

She claimed that he had started to be violent with her and their daughters in the two years before the incident and that he had also punched both their daughter Annrina and herself.

In another instance, she claimed he had tried to kill her.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera said that the case had been prolonged five years for one reason or another.

The parties hated each other and this led the wife to file unfounded reports against her husband. The victims, she said, were the couple’s children who had to give evidence against their father’s at their mother’s request, putting them in a trauma.

She warned the police to treat the case more seriously and carry out more in depth investigations before carrying on with any other proceedings.

Magistrate Scerri Herrera said the court felt that the wife had a hidden agenda. It was convinced that the accused was not a calm and likeable person but Mrs Pisani was not a trustworthy witness and managed to convince her daughters to give the evidence they did.

Magistrate Scerri Herrera noted in her judgement, that when Mrs Pisani was on the witness stand, she was too pretentious and said more than she intended to.

Her children, on the other hand, had to be assisted by the police to give their testimony.

The court noted that the couple were not on good terms and were insultive towards one another. it then acquitted Mr Pisani of all the charges against him.