A 29-year-old man is pleading not guilty to causing serious injuries to the 5-year-old son of his partner, even though he acknowledged hitting the child.

The man, whose name cannot be published by court order, was summoned to court today and was accused of seriously injuring the boy, slightly injuring him on a different occasion, and of the ill-treatment of a child in his care.

Testifying before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli this morning, prosecuting inspector Sylvana Briffa testified that the police intervened after the child went to school on 27 February with bruises on his face. Consultant paediatrician Mariella Mangion had confirmed that the injuries were not accidental in nature, and Appoġġ was alerted.

However, there were two previous incidents of a similar nature involving the child, including a practically identical one which took place last September.

But the most serious incident occurred on 27 January, when the child turned up in school with a fractured leg, an injury which was also confirmed to be non-accidental in nature.

The child’s mother insisted that she did not know how the boy’s injuries were caused, telling police that the boy, who is autistic, was often unruly.

Her boyfriend, however, admitted to hitting the child from time to time, while his mother was not present, telling police that the child was difficult to control.