The Criminal Court of Appeal has rejected two appeals filed by Roderick Cassar, upholding separate prison sentences over two violent incidents involving his estranged wife, Bernice Cilia, just months before he murdered her.
The presiding judge confirmed an eight-month prison sentence for intentionally damaging Cilia’s car in July 2022 and a separate three-month sentence for injuring and threatening her with a knife on Mother’s Day two months earlier.
Cassar is also serving a 40-year prison sentence after admitting to Cilia’s brutal murder, whom he fatally shot as she drove to work in Corradino in November 2022.
Appeal over damage to Cilia’s car rejected
Cilia filed a police report against Cassar on 14 July 2022 after taking their children to see him at a daycare centre.
An argument broke out in the car park over when Cassar was next due to see the children. During the confrontation, he allegedly made a gesture towards Cilia’s neck before kicking her car and damaging it.
The incident came days after a separate alleged threat during a phone call on 8 July. Cilia claimed Cassar asked her to take the children to hospital without anyone accompanying her for protection. When she refused to visit him alone, he allegedly threatened to “blow her head off” in front of her father if the children left the house.
Cassar was charged with attempting to attack, insult, annoy or harm Cilia, insulting or threatening her, and intentionally damaging her vehicle.
The Court of Magistrates acquitted him of the charge concerning insults or threats but found him guilty of intentionally damaging the vehicle and jailed him for eight months.
Cassar challenged evidence given by police officer Andy Borg and Cilia’s relatives, arguing that their testimony was based on what she had told them and therefore amounted to hearsay.
The appeals court ruled that hearsay evidence is not automatically inadmissible, particularly when the person who made the original statements cannot testify. It noted that three relatives consistently recounted that Cilia had told them Cassar attacked and damaged her car.
An estimate prepared by Mizzi Auto Repairs valued the damage at €1,292.13. Company employee Johann Borg confirmed under oath that he had personally inspected the vehicle and prepared the estimate.
The court considered the relatives’ consistent accounts, Joseph Cilia’s observation of the damaged car, the repair estimate and the vehicle registration records. Taken together, the evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that Cassar had intentionally caused the damage.
Cassar also argued that his eight-month sentence was disproportionate and requested a more lenient punishment. The court rejected his request, noting that the sentence was the legal minimum and was neither incorrect in principle nor manifestly excessive.
All four grounds of appeal were dismissed, and the conviction and eight-month sentence were confirmed in full.
Second appeal over Mother’s Day incident rejected
In a separate appeal, Cassar challenged his conviction and three-month prison sentence over an incident at the couple’s Qrendi home on 8 May 2022.
According to the judgment, Cassar returned home early that morning and attempted to take the children to Gozo. Cilia refused, asking that they remain with her because it was Mother’s Day.
Cilia reported that Cassar threatened to break everything in the house before bringing a knife and holding it close to her face in front of their children. She also said he struck her on the head and pulled her hair in the presence of relatives and the children.
She subsequently filed a police report, underwent a risk assessment and was medically certified as suffering from slight injuries.
Cassar was found guilty of causing slight injuries to Cilia and threatening her with a knife and was sentenced to three months in prison.
The court dismissed his arguments and confirmed the sentence in full.
Cilia was killed before she ever had the chance to testify against him in either of these proceedings.
Judge Neville Camilleri delivered the judgements.