Inspector Cassar told this story in court yesterday during his

testimony against a 42-year-old Zabbar man being accused of threatening to kill his wife and children, reckless driving, beating his children and injuring them slightly and driving a car towards his wife. The first two charges were added on by the prosecution at yesterday’s sitting.

When questioned, the man admitted threatening his wife and beating his children but had a ready excuse for the incidents his wife and children described. He is currently pleading not guilty to all the charges pressed against him.

After the boys told him their story the inspector called their mother, since he said it looked as though the incident in question was quite serious. The children’s mother told the police her husband had become very aggressive. They were having problems, she said, mainly because he had a friend who she thought had a shady reputation.

Inspector Cassar said the woman told him this friend of her husband’s was known to dabble in drugs and she asked him not to meet him anymore. He took no heed of her warning and problems between them started arising, she said.

Between 10 and 12 August the man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his children, threatened to kill her or the children. “I will kill one of you,” he said.

When prosecuting inspector Cassar asked the accused about this incident the man responded sarcastically. “I never killed or stabbed them, did I?” he said.

On 15 August the children and the man’s wife asked where he was going. As they were standing in the drive-in of their garage, he drove straight onto them, the woman had told police. She managed to jump out of the way as the children shouted, “You are going to kill her!” The woman said she had been just a few inches away from the car.

In his statement to police, the man said, “I was trying to get my car into the garage and she was in the way.” He added he had not been driving at a high speed.

When the woman and the children asked the man where he was going on 21 August, he flew into a rage and lashed out at the young boys. The eight-year-old tried to get into the car and the accused proceeded to close the car door on his hand after punching him in the stomach and back.

The nine-year-old boy punched his father in his brother’s defence. This was a catalyst for the man’s anger as he grabbed the boy by the neck and began punching him anywhere he could hit. The court appointed doctor reported the children’s injuries to be slight.

The inspector said the woman told him this was not the first time an incident of the sort occurred. “Last year he almost choked one of the children,” she said and explained that her husband often beat her.

In a statement, the accused admitted threatening his wife and beating his children, but denied ever threatening to kill them.

The man’s anger reared its head again at the police station as Inspector Cassar was speaking to his wife. The accused was waiting downstairs and then said, “I am going to go and get them.” He ran upstairs and commotion broke out as he tried to get at his wife and children who were in the inspector’s office.

In the rush, the accused pushed a female inspector into the wall and injured her finger. She explained to the court how she ran after him and together with other officers managed to stop him just a few metres away from where his wife and children were standing.

“I am not afraid of the police,” yelled the man when he was finally thrown into a jail cell. When questioned on the incident, the accused said he only went upstairs to speak to the inspector and denied ever saying, “I am going to get them.”

The man’s wife is still due to testify in court and has asked to do this through video conference. Defence attorney Dr Franco Debono made a request for bail that presiding magistrate Anthony Vella denied.

The man was remanded in

custody until his next court

summons.