Monday, 2nd November 2009 - 11:16CET
Jury hears how child abuse destroyed family
Updated, Adds Superintendent's testimony:
A 27-year-old man this morning went on trial accused of raping and corrupting a seven-year-old girl.
The case happened 10 years ago but the girl only told her parents when she was 12 or 13.
The case was described by prosecutor Nadine Sant in her opening statement as 'disgusting'.
She said that the man, who was 17 years old at the time, used to live with his mother. Every Saturday the girl's mother would drop her daughter at her grandmother's house. On various occasions, he had sex with her. On one occasion he took her in his car and forced her to commit lewd acts.
The first incident happened shortly after her first Holy Communion.
Dr Sant told the all-male jury that they were going to be shocked with the testimony of witnesses in the trial, which is not expected to last more than two days.
CASE DESTROYS FAMILY
Superintendent Sharon Tanti said that in June 2004 a young girl had recounted abuse she had suffered at the hands of her uncle. She would sleep at her grandmother's where the accused would live as well. He would take her up on the roof, to clean out the pigeons, and he would tell her to take off her pants. He would then perform lewd acts, touch her private parts and try to have sex with her. She would hurt a lot but he would keep on doing it. Once he heard people coming up the stairs and told her if she said anything he would throw her from the roof. This was her earliest memory of the abuse.
The superintendent said the victim never changed her version. There were different occasions when the same thing happened. One time he took her into his bedroom and again had sex. Another time, he forced her to have oral sex at Hal Far.
The truth started to emerge when the girl was at a secondary school and attended a personal and social development lesson about sexual abuse. She told a friend about what had happened. They decided to tell her friend's mother, and then the friend's mother called the victim's mother. The case was then taken to the appogg agency. A medical doctor confirmed that the girl had had had sexual activity.
The superintendent said she had interviewed the accused and he later issued a statement denying everything and claiming that the girl was a liar.
Superintendent Tanti spoke about the impact of the case on the family. The victim's mother was 'torn and broken' about the case her father (the victim's grandfather) was not talking to her any more, she said.
The girl at one point wanted to stop everything because she felt it had caused division within the family. People who had been close to her were now fighting each other.
When the accused was given bail after having been taken to court, the mother turned up at police headquarters with a document saying the girl wanted to withdraw her allegations and stop the case. The girl was claiming she had lied in order to attract attention.
At the time the victim's mother was living at her mother's house because even her own family had broken up.
There was then another change of mind and the case was continued.
The trial is being presided by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, who imposed a ban on the names of the accused, the girl and witnesses, in order to protect the identity of the girl.
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Comments
Police interrogations vary from one another i.e. accused of murder/theft to an abused victim.
And t.Borg is shocked that some readers mentioned putting a rapist in jail for the rest of his life, “ghax nehhejna lill Alla min qalbna”
He/she forgot that the said same God according to his/her Christian believes condemns the offender to burn in hell for eternity!!How is that for comparison?
I applaud the victim and whoever supported her,for it is hard to bring up this harrowing experience of abuse.
To the abuser who threatened the victim to throw her down from the roof : I guess its was easy for you to speak and act like that to a 7 year old. Can’t imagine doing it to a grown up male, hopefully when justice is done, may you meet a dozen a-h
@Zammit
What about the father? Fathers have the exact same feelings as the mothers do, even if many of us are disenfranchised!
I'm convinced that these types of incidents would not happen in such frequency if the fathers to the children shared and enjoy equal parenting, equal custody, but until such a day, the majority of children will have to grow up with just one set of eyes watching over them and one perspective instead of two....
Do you wonder why so many of our kids are failing in school?
Gravely Disappointed
this isn't the 60's anymore.
Superintendent Sharon Tanti is doing a lot for these types of people so that families would be free from all types of violence and this is the thanks she gets. Keep it up!!
“why in such a case it is an all-male jury ???”
I do not know about this particular case but – unfortunately – the defense lawyer has the right to object to any particular juror without giving any reasons. In cases of rape or child abuse defense lawyers are know to attempt to rid the jury of female jurors as well as of any male jurors who are known to be particularly against child abuse and/or rape i.e. defense lawyers effectively attempt to maximize the chance of having on the jury panel people who are most likely to sympathize with the accused.
@mary caruana, i think that you would have a different opinion if it were you, or your own daughter that was the victim of this crime, regardless of the age of the offender.
One reason why so few cases of abuse within the family (and work places) are brought to justice is because the "auxiliary abusers" i.e. those who turn a blind eye and later claim that they were never aware of the abuse, those who could have prevented abuse but did not and all those who - directly or indirectly - bully the victim into shutting up are never themselves charged with any crime (as far as I know) even though all are morally guilty if not legally so.
"Pedophelia " ONE WHO FANTASIZE ON FEET"
You mean POdophelia I presume?
May God protect all children of the world, wherever they are. They are our off springs.
Everytime I read something about such subject matter..................I just stir in space !!!!!
May God protect this girl for the rest of her life. Such horrific experiences leave very serious scars on people.
Please Please Please more Education and awareness campaigns in schools. I am actually lost for words reading this article.
May God Protect all children of the world.
So even if protcting the girl was not an issue the name of a minor cannot be published.
for having broken society's norms and reported a-within-the family-crime.And I would like to urge mothers and grandmothers to be very careful when trusting a male with a child..whoever he is! This happens all too often.
You're saying that it should not have been brought to court?! Are you real??
So according to you any person under 18 yrs can rape or do what they please as its not Peadophile?
I really hope that , if the allegations are proved to be true, the culprit will be given a long sentence (not a lenient one like some that are handed out), and the victim and her mother will be given all the help and counseling required.
And Mary, i honestly hope, that neither you, nor anyone you know will pass from the undoubtedly harrowing experience this victim has allegedly passed from.
Child abusers are just that. They perversely enjoy abusing children – particularly the extremely unequal aspect of the power relationship - and usually the closer in the family the better because they will be able to exert much more power in such a situation AND get certain adult members of the family to protect them rather than risk “tarnishing the family name”. At least this child had her mother on her side. Many other victims do not even have that.
Legalizing prostitution will not prevent abuse. Far too many abusers are too stingy to pay for sex and many abusers are afraid of getting some form of STD from professional prostitutes. That is another reason why they seek out very young virgin girls AND seemingly try to “protect” them from everybody else...(To be continued)
What may reduce incidences of such abuse are lectures to all pregnant women and engaged couples about the dangers of over trusting family members and friends with young children. It should be made very clear to all that several cases of child abuse in our country still go unreported – particularly if committed by fathers/mothers/uncles/siblings/grandparents. One of my late grandmothers used to say that siblings should not be allowed to play together unsupervised and she did not just mean because of the risk of big brother rough handling little brother or pushing him off the roof/tree/bed.
@ Mary Caruana
I am sure that if an adult has intercouse or oral sex with a 7 year old he should be prosecuted and put away. Correct me if i misunderstood you, but can ou explain why you think that this case shouldnt have been brought to court?
Dont you think that at 17 he had enough common sense to realise that what he was allegedly doing was WRONG? He definitely should be on the sex offenders list if he is convicted
Yes, the court considers the fact that the abuse started when the accused was under age (obviously one would have to see whether the abuse kept on going even after the accused turned 18).
You said that this case should have never been brought to court.
Could you kindly explain WHY?
JC.
So what difference would legalising it make to a case like this??
PAEDOPHILIA* : sexual desire whose object is children (boys and/or girls)
PEADOPHILE* : one affected with peadophilia.
* Chambers Concise (20th Century) Dictionary
Although the accused was only 17 when he allegedly started abusing the victim he is reported to have continued well after he turned 18. Also the victim did not consent to the advances ,so even though the accused was 17 at the time it is still a punishable offence.
Sorry to disappoint you but the word pedophilia (or paedophilia) comes from the Greek: παιδοφιλία (paidophilia): παῖς (pais), "child" and φιλία (philia), "friendship".
It has absolutely nothing to do with feet!
you are incapable of understanding the gentleman's comment. Ask an adult to explain his comment to you before calling people names...
Tinkiteb hekk "Peadophile " ONE WHO FANTASIZE ON YOUN GIRLS.
"Pedophelia " ONE WHO FANTASIZE ON FEET.
This person who ever he is, is'nt a peadophile..
This case should never been brought to court .
I think you may be jumping the gun here a bit. I do believe that legalized and controlled prostitution could cut down a hell of a lot of rape and forced prostitution as well as human trafficing, increse tax revenue and put a stop to public indecency caused by prostitution since it will be taken off the streets. But when we are talking about 7 year olds, it is a whole different kettle of fish.
As much as this incident could have been avoided, wouldn't legalisation of the prostituion begin a slippery slope which could easily lead to much more incidents happening due to the easy availibility of such workers..
Same with other incidents, such as the use of the morning-after pill for rape victims.. as useful as it may seem... it could open up to abuse and usage for abortive purposes.
Even though the "one small evil for the greater good" attitude may seem wrong.. is it?
I highly doubt it. Some people are sick, and corrupt a child because they WANT to corrupt a child, not have sex with an adult. This goes beyond the carnal needs of a healthy human.
Could this incident have been avoided if prostitution is simply legalized in this country?