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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 17 JANUARY 2018 News 8 FOREIGN NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS A man with previous rape con- victions has been cleared of rape and what was described by the prosecution as 'a very seri- ous case of domestic violence' after his partner claimed to be unable to remember the inci- dent. Ans Algheziwi, 30 of Tripoli, Libya, and residing at St Paul's Bay, was arrested on Sunday after a woman made a report at the Qawra Police Station against the accused, her partner for the last six months. The woman had suffered sev- eral visible bruises and bite marks on her body. Prosecuting police Inspector Godwin Scerri told the court that although the victim's injuries had been cer- tified as slight, the police were treating this case as one of very serious domestic violence. In addition to rape, he was charged with injuring, threat- ening and assaulting the woman and being a relapser. Algheziwi's criminal record includes a past conviction for rape for which he was jailed for three years. Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Yanika Vidal, representing the accused, had entered a plea of not guilty during his arraignment but did not make a request for bail, as he had nowhere to live but his matrimonial home. However, when the woman took the witness stand yester- day, she told magistrate Char- maine Galea that she had no recollection of the alleged in- cident, torpedoing the case against her partner. The court dismissed the charges against Algheziwi due to lack of evidence and he left the court a free man. Accused walks free after rape, domestic violence victim 'forgets' incident The prosecuting police inspector told the court that although the victim's injuries had been certified as slight, the police were treating the case as one of very serious domestic violence A man's attempt to use record- ings of a phone call with his ex-wife - in which she directly contradicts what she had told the court under oath - to get her convicted of perjury has backfired, with the court de- claring the evidence insuffi- ciently reliable. The couple, that had their marriage annulled by the Church, were fighting a cus- tody battle for their children. The husband claimed that his former wife had given false tes- timony on two occasions. As part of his criminal complaint against the woman, the former husband had sent the police commissioner an audio record- ing, together with a transcript of the recording, in which the woman directly contradicts what she had told the court. He claimed that she lied when asked about a proposition she had made to him while she was residing at 'Dar Merhba Bik'. The man claimed his former wife had proposed to return to the matrimonial home as long as he tore up an agreement on the separation of assets which they had entered into after their marriage was annulled. When asked about this during the civil proceedings, the wife twice denied making the offer. The husband had then present- ed the court with a recording in which his wife could be heard making the proposition. The woman had confirmed that it was her voice in the recording. The man had then filed a criminal complaint with the Police Commissioner, accusing his ex-wife of testifying falsely, but the commissioner had de- clined to launch criminal pro- ceedings against the woman as the civil case was still under- way. The man had objected to this, arguing that there was no legal basis preventing the police from prosecuting. He also filed a chal- lenge to proceedings against the commissioner of police de- manding that proceedings be started against his ex-wife. But the Court of Magistrates rejected his request on the ba- sis that it could not rely on a recording, which it said could have been taken out of con- text. The man had filed an ap- peal to the decision, which was ruled in his favour, prompting charges to be pressed against the ex-wife. Magistrate Joe Mifsud, pre- siding over the criminal case against the wife, however, ruled that he could not rely on a re- cording that was taken without the woman's knowledge and which could have been taken out of context, adding that the required elements to find the woman guilty of the charge brought against her were not in place. Quoting from the 2007 case Republic vs David Norbert Schembri, the court noted that even if a recording was not ille- gal in itself, it could be inadmis- sible as evidence where the re- cording was obtained illegally. The party exhibiting a record- ing must convince the court that there is a prima facie case of the recording's authenticity, show its provenance as well as the history of the recording up till the moment of its exhibition in court, said the magistrate. He declared the woman not guilty of the charges. Mifsud also issued a strong- ly-worded warning against a practice which he said was developing in Gozitan courts, in which whenever a witness changes testimony, charges for perjury are immediately filed. He described this as a waste of time and money, adding that this usually takes place due to personal animosities between "people who expect to dictate what should be said and done inside the courts." Phone recording insufficient to convict woman of perjury Court declared recordings as insufficiently reliable to be used as evidence inside the courts EXTENSIVE searches by the Italian police on Maltese travelling to Sicily on hunting holidays have led to charges being filed against 16 men. Some of the men were caught in possession of dead protected birds and others had equipment that should not be used while hunting. According to Ragusa's Guardia di Finanza, 16 rifles were seized along with the relative ammu- nition and several dozens of killed birds. The police in Ragusa have charged 16 Maltese caught with dead protected birds as they tried to board the catamaran to Malta Maltese charged in Sicily over illegal hunting