The woman, who cannot be named due to a court order, had been summoned to court and accused of abandoning and severely neglecting her six-year old daughter in May this year. The girl in question was found locked out on a balcony, hungry and dirty.

In July, the court ordered the woman to sign at Birkirkara police station every day, after prosecuting inspector Joseph Mercieca had said she had been nowhere to be found.

The woman was arrested last Sunday after police staked out her residence because she had not shown up at the police station to sign since 10 October. At the next sitting in the case against her, the woman claimed she had not gone to sign because her two-year-old twins were sick.

Doctor Victor Calvagna, who was appointed by the court to examine the children, declared that they were healthy. The court, presided over by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, noted that the woman was not telling the truth when she said her children were sick.

“Even though it is obvious she has problems, she cannot decide to simply ignore the court’s orders,” said Magistrate Scerri Herrera.

The woman had not gone to sign at the police station, as she was ordered to, due to negligence and nonchalance. She had said that she had not been signing at the police station for the past three weeks because these children were sick – a statement the court said was proven to be untruthful.

In spite of this, the woman was granted bail against a Lm500 personal guarantee. Magistrate Scerri Herrera noted that the five nights the woman spent at the Corradino Correctional Facility may have taught her a lesson to not make the same mistake twice.