Education Minister Justyne Caruana has dropped a criminal complaint against the ex-wife of footballer Daniel Bogdanovic.

The case, where Caruana accused the women of stalking, harassment, causing fear of violence, and uttering insults and threats, was due to begin this week in Gozo after police filed charged alleging that the aforementioned events happened in the past few months.

However, Caruana filed a note in court on Monday withdrawing her complaint, saying that since she had filed it the stalking had stopped.

In comments to the media, Caruana insisted that this was a personal matter. She said, however, that after six months of harassment, she had filed a police report. Now that the harassment has stopped, she decided to withdraw the report but, should it start again, she feels she has a right to protect herself and her family.

It is understood that the prosecution had around 12 witnesses lined up, while the defence had some 40 witnesses themselves.

Bogdanovic, a former Maltese football international who also plied his trade in the UK before retiring, was under the spotlight after it was revealed that he had been the recipient of a three month contract worth €15,000 by direct order.

The contract was for a review of sports curricula in the national sports college, and was granted to Bogdanovic despite the footballer having no qualifications.

It was later repealed by the government.

 

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