A man was jailed for six months yesterday for beating up his sister, who is still a minor, with the court saying that he “should be ashamed to show his face in public” for the terror to which he had subjected her over the years.

Milovan Camilleri, 28, from Zabbar, was cleared of seriously injuring his sister, who is not being named as she is still a minor, but was found guilty of slightly injuring her, detaining her against her will and repeatedly beating her. He was also found guilty of breaching the peace.

The court heard the victim testify that on 9 January 2006, her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter was playing with a toolbox that belonged to the accused and his father.

She said that her brother turned aggressive and said that he would break the baby’s teeth on the same toolbox if she did not stop. The victim sensed what was coming and put the baby in the playpen. She said that her brother picked up a glass and was about to hit her with it, but her mother tried to get it out of her brother’s hand. However, she said, he continued to pin her up against the broom cupboard and punched her in the face and on the head. She suffered lacerations as a result, but could not confirm whether they had indeed been caused by the glass. Her brother continued to beat her, but eventually her parents managed to get him off her. She went to the bathroom and saw her face was covered in blood, so she decided to report the matter to the police.

She said that her mother did not want her to report her brother because he would lose his job. However, her father allowed her to go and report the incident. She was treated at a polyclinic and needed stitches. She had also told the police that her brother had beaten her badly on many occasions and had burst her eardrum and caused damage to her cheekbones when she was still a child.

The accused was spoken to by the police and he made a statement admitting having beaten his sister on various occasions and that he had caused the above-mentioned injuries to her when she was still a child. She had also told the investigating officers that she slept on a mattress on the floor in the garage with her daughter because she was terrified of her brother. Asked about the conditions, she said it was cold and draughty and full of tools.

The court, presided over by magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, said that this case needed to be determined according to the credibility of the witnesses involved. The court said that the parents were not at all credible, with the father being very vague and the mother being very descriptive but also very “doubtful”.

The victim, on the other hand, was very consistent and credible, said magistrate Scerri Herrera. The court also pointed out that the accused had made a statement to the police in which he admitted beating his sister and being aggressive in nature.

The court praised the victim for having the courage to report the matter to the police and said that she deserved protection. She also had words of admonishment for the parents: “It is shameful to allow a minor to sleep in a garage with her tot of a child – exposed to cold and inhumane treatment while her 24-year-old brother sleeps comfortably in his room, when they are both their offspring. This kind of discrimination should never have occurred,” said the court.

She said that it did not seem that the accused had caused serious or permanent injury to the girl, but that the other charges were definitely proven. She said that the case was “shameful” and that the accused should be “ashamed of his actions in a society such as ours where he had a duty to protect his little sister for the rest of his life. He should be ashamed to show his face in public and owes his sister an apology,” said magistrate Scerri Herrera.

The court said that the accused had a clean record, but did not feel inclined to show clemency and that a definitive prison term was an ideal punishment. She therefore jailed the accused for six months and ordered him to pay Lm60 in legal expenses. The court also ordered for a copy of the judgment to be sent to the director of Appogg and the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry in order to find accommodation for the victim.