Cases of child negligence, threats or slight injuries within families will now be heard in front of one magistrate, Anthony Vella, in the new criminal section of the family court, Justice Minister Tonio Borg said yesterday.

At a press conference announcing the opening of this new section, the minister explained that this is just the beginning. As yet, most of the cases to be heard in this part of the court are not crime but contraventions. The only crime to be handled there will be that of slight injury.

The new section will provide a quieter and more intimate setting for the cases to be heard. This is important considering that many times children involved are asked to testify. They must be made to feel comfortable and their level of fear and apprehension should be alleviated as much as possible, he said.

The new section will encourage people to report domestic crimes and the cases filed will not be lost among all the other district cases in the Magistrates’ Court.

As yet, the new section will only be handling crimes within the family unit, but may later be expanded. Cases of sexual abuse will continue to be heard in the Magistrates’ Court for the time being, said Minister Borg.

The minister explained that most of these cases require an extensive compilation of evidence and arrangement for these have not yet been made.

The new section will have the video-conference facility. This is already being used in the Criminal Court, with around five testimonies a month being heard in this way, Dr Borg said.

The video-conference facility allows fearful children to give their testimony in a more comfortable environment and tries to make the whole experience less traumatising.

Other contraventions that will be heard by this new criminal section of the Family Court will be issues of spousal maintenance in cases of separation, and of parents abandoning or kidnapping their children.

Magistrate Anthony Vella will be presiding over this criminal part of the Family Court and Magistrate Abigail Lofaro will take over the cases when he is not available.

The justice minister also said that one of the first items to be discussed when parliament reopens will be the bill of law on domestic violence and the function of this new section of the Family Court will help the implementation of any law passed regarding this subject.