Lack of witness testimony liberates father charged with causing bodily harm to son

A man has been acquitted of attempting to murder or cause grievous bodily harm to his son after the latter provided a different account of events and failed to testify in court, along with his mother.

The case relates to an incident which took place on 7 January 2016, after Malcolm Calleja, who is a resident of Siġġiewi, was admitted Mater Dei Hospital with severe head injuries.

A medical expert told the court that the victim had had suffered injuries to the right side of his head, damaging his cranium and creating a fracture that resulted in internal bleeding. Calleja subsequently required an operation.

A Mater Dei official informed the police, who investigated the injury.

Calleja provided the police with two versions, first telling investigators that his father, Stephen Calleja, had struck him with a television stand after failing to wake him up, while on separate occasion saying that he had woken up and tripped on his father’s legs, hitting the TV stand in the process.

The court was told, however, that the injuries were incompatible with a fall as described by the younger Calleja, and more likely the result of blunt force trauma.

The son refused to testify in court, as did his mother.

Owing to the absence of witness testimony, the father was acquitted of all charges, which Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted would have been considered a “classic case of domestic violence.”

Inspector Kylie Borg represented the prosecution.