The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday changed a man’s sentence from a three-month jail term to a Lm500 fine.

Nazzareno Abela, who is going through separation proceedings with his wife, Maria Stella, had been sentenced to a three-month jail term, after the Court of Magistrates found him guilty of changing the lock of his house because he was afraid of his wife’s boyfriend.

The Court of Criminal Appeal, presided over by Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano found that when the man’s wife testified in court on 28 May, she was still deprived from her right to have access to the matrimonial home, but after the appeal was filed, Abela’s wife had filed a declaration that she had been given a copy of the key and that she now had access to the house.

The court therefore ruled that, as a result of this development, the appellant’s sentence should be changed to a Lm500 fine instead of a jail term.