A man who made a coffin for his wife has been handed a 10-month jail term after he was found guilty of seriously injuring her, threatening her and using vulgar language. The incident dates back to December 2005. The court, presided by magistrate Antonio Mizzi, was told that the man had made a wooden coffin and had given it to her during a family meal, telling her that that’s where she would end up. In court, defendant Emanuel Degiorgio, 56, from Marsascala, claimed it was a joke. However, his wife Filippa interpreted it as a threat, and a few weeks later she left her husband, went to live in an apartment and filed for separation. On one occasion, the woman went back to the matrimonial home, thinking that Degiorgio was living with another woman. Seeing that there was nobody else in the house, she told him to leave immediately and to go live in another house they owned. She then went into the living room and tried tearing up a photo. According to the defendant, the woman tripped and hit her head against a ceramic object; however, she insisted that he assaulted her with a small model balcony and started punching her. The couple’s son told the court that he had seen his father beating up his mother, who was then taken to the Paola health centre. She suffered a head wound and had six stitches.

Police inspector Anthony Cassar prosecuted.