Elderly man fined for offending public morals

A 65-year-old man has been fined Lm150 for undressing in public and offending public morals in Gozo last year.

Joseph Sultana, of Victoria, was however cleared of defiling a minor, a 15-year-old girl, after Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled that, in not exhibiting the girl's birth certificate, the prosecution had failed to prove that she was a minor.

Magistrate Scerri Herrera, who was presiding over the Gozo Law Courts, also added that, since she had not presided over the case during the compilation of evidence and had not seen the girl, she was not in the position to determine whether or not she was a minor.

The magistrate heard how on March 4, 2002, the girl and her mother had filed a report in which they said that the day before they had seen a tall and thin man in his 60s make obscene gestures while they were walking on the beach in Marsalforn.

The girl and her mother recognised the man to be Sultana and explained that they had seen him masturbate on the beach and have oral sex with another man, whom they could not identify. They also explained that Sultana had a little black dog with him at the time.

However, Sultana denied the allegations and said that on March 3, 2002, he went for a walk with his dog after lunch. He said that although he was in Marsalforn he did not go to the beach.

After evaluating the evidence, the magistrate ruled that the evidence given by the girl and her mother was credible, unlike that given by Sultana.

She noted that the girl and her mother had recognised Sultana on three separate occasions and were sure that it was him. Sultana, however, seemed to be more interested in trying to show that they were lying rather than prove his innocence.

Police Inspector Antonello Grech prosecuted.