Crime
Wife tried to sabotage husband’s abuse trial
A NURSE who tried to scupper
the sex abuse trial of her husband
by interfering with a witness
has been spared jail, but
faces the sack.
Mother-of-three Maria Mallari
left court in tears after she was
given a suspended jail sentence
after a judge accepted she was
full of regret.
Last night, the University Hospital
of Hartlepool could not say
whether she would keep her job
as an orthopaedic unit nurse.
Mallari's 39-year-old husband,
Virgillio, was accused of multiple
sex offences when she tried to intervene
in the case, last summer.
He was found guilty after a
trial last year and was awaiting
sentence when he was found
hanged in Holme House Prison,
in Stockton, days before Christmas.
Mallari was said to have been
"in turmoil and overwhelmed by
her emotions" when she tried to
get the victim to retract the statement
she made to police.
A court heard that 43-year-old
Mallari bought the victim a oneway
plane ticket out of the country
and forged a letter saying her
allegations were false.
Christine Egerton, in mitigation,
said Mallari felt bewildered
by the allegations and said: "She
described how her head was exploding
at that time."
Miss Egerton said Mallari, who
came to the UK from the Philippines
in 2001, was well-respected
as a senior staff nurse at the hospital.
Teesside Crown Court was told
that the North Tees and Hartlepool
NHS Trust was waiting until
the outcome of the case before it
considered her position.
The Northern Echo contacted
the trust last night, but was told
no one could answer the question
about Mallari's future.
Mallari, of Bacon Walk, Hartlepool,
admitted attempting to pervert
the course of justice.
She was given a nine-month
jail sentence, suspended for two
years, and was ordered to carry
out 120 hours of unpaid work for
the community.
Her husband, who worked as
an electrician in the Philippines,
got a job as a cleaner and then a
caterer at the hospital in Hartlepool.
8:12am Saturday 3rd May 2008
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