Father of six kids by different mothers charged with domestic abuse

The father of six children, mothered by different women, was arrested and arraigned over an alleged case of domestic abuse.

The unemployed Syrian national, residing at Marsascala, pleaded not guilty on Friday to having allegedly beaten his partner and their child, inflicting slight injuries, causing the woman to fear violence as well as misusing telecommunications equipment. He was further charged with escaping from police custody.

Senior prosecuting Inspector Trevor Micallef explained in court how the man, who had fathered six children by different mothers, had allegedly turned violent and had hit out at the woman and her son.

The victim took the witness stand to declare that she had since forgiven the accused, so long as there was no further harassment on his part.

The man pleaded not guilty to the charges.

When making submissions on bail, defence lawyers Franco Galea and Lucio Sciriha pointed out that although the man had escaped from police custody after his interrogation, he had been returned to police custody by his family, one hour after his escape.

Moreover, it was argued that the man had a clean criminal sheet and resided apart from the victims, at a different locality...