Calling your wife stupid in public is family abuse

Calling his wife stupid his wife and calling her incapable in the presence of other people can cost the husband a conviction for the offence of family abuse. And this even if the man has never raised his hand against the woman and is described by her as a hard worker. The Cassión confirms the conviction for the offence under Article 572 of the Criminal Code against the appellant, who never missed an opportunity to call his wife 'stupid' in the presence of third persons and on the work that she carried out with her spouse: a business. Public humiliation, as reported by witnesses, which also took place when the young daughters were present, forced to listen tothe father calling the mother incapable. The latter circumstance also triggers the aggravating circumstance of assisted ill-treatment, introduced by the Red Code.

A frequent denigration that the girls had sometimes personally witnessed, but which was nevertheless perceived. The Supreme Court recalls, in fact, that 'what makes the conduct particularly reprehensible, to the point of deserving a considerable aggravation of punishment,' reads the judgment, 'lies in the possibility of harming not only the directly targeted victim of the ill-treatment, but also the psycho-physical development of the minors. The maltreatment is, in fact, to be considered 'assisted' not only when the children are physically present, but also when the level ofconflict is such as to be noticed because it is 'immanent in the living context or, in any case, in the places where their personality is expressed'.

It was useless for the plaintiff's defence to recall that the wife herself had asked, after the separation, to remit the complaint, claiming that her husband had changed his attitude: "she admitted," the judges wrote, "that her husband had been a positive presence in her life, being faithful and a hard worker". For the plaintiff, the denigration was not constant but only a sporadic and impetuous reaction to the woman's behaviour at work and at home. A serene marital relationship, therefore, that had only degenerated when the woman had expressed her intention to end the union. But the defence reconstruction does not hold up. For the Court of Cassation there is evidence of a constant dislike and denigration, openly manifested even in the workplace, with the husband as 'boss'.