A woman today told a court that she had committed perjury on the orders of her estranged partner who was standing accused of running over a woman with a bus in an incident dating back to 2008.

"Moments before entering the courtroom to testify, he had approached me and told me what to say and pretended that I had been a passenger who witnessed the accident even though I was never present. I followed his instructions fearing I would lose the custody of my children if I did not follow his orders," the witness said this morning. 

Maria Louise Pearson was testifying before Magistrate Charmaine Galea in the case against 42-year-old former bus driver Massimo Bonello who is charged with being an accomplice in perjury. He is also accused of corrupting his estranged partner to give false testimony in separate proceeding against him before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli.

Moments before entering the courtroom to testify, he had approached me and told me what to say and pretended that I had been a passenger who witnessed the accident even though I was never present

In 2013, Mr Bonello had been acquitted by the first court of running over Inna Said who had suffered head injuries and spent over 17 days in hospital. The accused had been cleared of all charges except for driving without a licence for which he was fined 150. The case, however, was back in the spotlight last February when Mr Pearson was handed a suspended sentence after admitting to giving false testimony. 

The woman this morning was summoned to testify against her estranged partner who is denying all charges. Police inspector Kylie Borg told the court that suspicions of perjury had been raised by the victim's husband who had filed a criminal complaint against Ms Pearson following her testimony before the first court.

Subsequently, Ms Pearson had admitted to the inspector of fabricating the story, in which she had said that the accused had been driving at 30 km/h and that she left the scene immediately after the collision. 

The woman today told the court that contrary to what she had testified three years ago when she described Mr Bonello as an ordinary friend, she had been in a relationship with him and the two had a child in 2006. However, they broke up in 2008. She said that she had lied in court as she started panicking, knowing she was cooking up a story.

Asked why she had committed such crime, the witness said that whenever she used to quarrel with the accused, he used to threaten her that he would file a report to take away the custody of her children. Ms Pearson pointed out that she was not fully aware why her estranged partner had summoned her to testify in 2013, until she met him outside the courtroom when he presented her with the fictitious version of events which she reproduced a short while later. 

Meanwhile an application by Inna Said and her husband to be admitted as party to the case, was rejected by the court. 

Lawyer John Bonello was defence counsel. The case continues next month.