Tuesday, 3rd November 2009
‘Raped niece, 7, four times’
Grandfather ‘threatened’ victim’s family
Disturbing details emerged in court yesterday during the trial of a man accused of raping his seven-year-old niece more than once on the roof of his mother’s house.
The man’s name, names of witnesses and the place where the alleged crime took place have been banned from publication to protect the identity of the victim who is now 17 years old.
The 28-year-old man, who was 17 at the time, would pretend that he wanted the girl to help him clean out the fowls’ coop on the roof of his mother’s house, the court heard.
It was there, in 1998, that he told her to undress, performed a sexual act in front of her, touched her and then had sex with her “not just once but four times”, Nadine Sant, the lawyer from the Attorney General’s Office, told the jurors.
“This was all done when nobody was at home. Imagine the feelings if your own daughter had to tell you this,” she added as the all-male panel listened intently to her opening speech.
The accused threatened to throw the girl off the roof if she said anything to her parents, Dr Sant said.
It was only when the girl started personal and social development lessons at school, when she was around 12 or 13 years old, that she confided in a friend about what had happened to her.
The victim asked a friend to tell the friend’s mother, who then called her own mum to break the news gently.
After that the family – mother, step-father and daughter on one side and accused, brothers and their father on the other – began to feud. The girl’s grandfather stopped speaking to his daughter (the mother) and granddaughter, while his sons (brothers of the accused and of the victim’s mother) began threatening their sister and the girl, Dr Sant said.
Taking the witness stand, Police Superintendent Sharon Tanti said the girl had never changed her version but had at one point retracted her police statement because of the intense threats and pressure from her uncles.
Supt. Tanti said the girl had felt she was the cause of the family break-up and in fact her mother and step-father had even separated for a while because of the fighting.
She described what the girl had told her, giving graphic details of how her uncle had touched her, on one occasion even having sex with her in his bedroom.
The last time that it happened was when he first took her to Ħal Far and forced her to perform oral sex on him. After that she refused to go to her grandmother’s house again, her friend said.
A doctor’s certificate was exhibited in court where the family GP had examined her and found that her hymen had been broken. However, he could not say how because it was so many years later.
Taking the witness stand, the girl’s step-father said he had seen bruises on the girl’s body because one of her uncles had thrown stones at her when she was leaving school in an attempt to scare her into stopping the case.
“We received a lot of threats from her grandfather. One of the uncles even threatened us and he filed police reports against us,” he said.
Lawyer Joe Mifsud appeared for the accused.
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Comments
He was decapitated in front of the family members of the victims than his headless body was hang for everyone to see.
THis is what such animals deserve for abusing our children.
Nobody knows the circumstance surrounding what may have or may not have happened.
“A person is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law,” and even then one’s fate is directly related to the quality of defense one can afford, notoriety, and even gender.
We don't know that this incident happened in the way it is described in print, or do we know if and how many mitigating circumstances such as age, state of mind, and cognitive capacity, etc, will be, or are evident in the case.
I hope, for everybody concerned, that it is just a young child's imagination gone a little wild, but we won't know for sure either way, and until we do, it's better not to speculate for the sake of the families involved...
@ Saliba
I'm relatively sure, that in cases such as described in the above story, legalized prostitution would not be a significant factor; however, I do believe in legalized and taxed prostitution.
As others have pointed out, it would cut crime, greatly increase taxable revenue, and for many of us, it'll be a lot less expensive and far less grief than archetypal dating ;^)
If found guilty this 'animal' should never be forgived by the society. Convicted rapists very often than not do it agian for the second time.........
They should be put in a mental institution for lifetime or else castrated.
@T_Borg, I agree that parents should be more careful who they leave their kids with, but they should not be required to. Moreover, this guy was not a stranger, but family. All who defend him are accomplices.
It is a pity it took so long for this girl to speak up. Obviously not her fault. But this is why schools should teach certain basics. The earlier parents are alerted, the less harm done to the person's psyche.
If found guilty of what he is accused of , this person who could have been 15 , 17 or 27 when he commited these acts deserves nothing less than life in prison .
No forgiveness , he is a danger to children and should be named , shamed and imprisoned .
Relgion and forgiveness will not make this person any less of a danger to children and somebody like this does NOT deserve a second chance ... EVER!!!
With regards to the accused, if he is guilty he is clearly mentally sick and should be helped in every way possible so as not to be a danger to society. Once again brave girl indeed!
I have always thought that we usually send sick people to a hospital and not to prison
The heroes you speak of do not blab on media.
They are little known Acting behind the scenes most of the time.
The heroes are those that have clean up the mess citizens force upon them.
Heroes are those that try to heal the scars of society.
The rest? I really can't say it didn't serve them right. It's the society we live in, either accept it (as most do) or find your destiny elsewhere (as some rare ones do).
If found guilty , he should be sentanced to life in prison and should have his idenetity revealed .
Also if found guilty , the grandfather and the other family members accused of threatening this poor girl should also be sent to prison .
If guilty, he should get life in prison - the victim has a life sentence!
I hope this girl gets all the HELP she needs to enable her to carry on her life the best she can.
These are the modern-day heroes; the people who fight for justice and don't give in to fear and threats. We can only imagine the trauma they've experienced and the willingness to give up..yet they fought on...and against family - the hardest of all!!!