A 24-year-old man has been given a two-year jail term suspended for four years for defiling his 15-year-old neighbour after a magistrate heard how the girl was and still is obsessed with him, was never forced into doing anything and often tempted him into having sex with her.

"It was surely the victim who invited the accused to commit the crime... Today (the girl) is 17 years old and her attitude towards the accused remains strong and it does not seem that these experiences have affected her negatively... On the contrary it seems that she wishes to continue her relationship with the accused..." Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled.

She was handing down judgment in the case against 24-year-old Richard Attard who was found guilty of defilement.

The magistrate heard how, one night, the parents of the 15-year-old girl heard footsteps in the yard. As they got up to check who it was they realised that is was Mr Attard and filed a police report against him.

The mother explained that her daughter was seeing Mr Attard and she did not approve of him as there was a wide age gap and she knew that he had a drug problem. (He was 22 at the time).

The magistrate also heard the girl explain how she got to know Mr Attard because he was her neighbour and she often saw him wash his car. He later became her boyfriend and she started going out with him out of her own free will.

Although the girl said she had had other boyfriends before Mr Attard, he was the first man she ever had sex with. He never forced her into doing anything she did not want to.

She said that he gave her jewellery, a soft toy and a mobile phone and added that he had even tried to give her money but she did not accept.

She was aware that he had drug problems as she often was present when he bought or took drugs and even tried taking drugs with him.

Her parents did not consent to her relationship with him so she usually sneaked out of the house to meet him.

He had once asked her to take her father's debit card but she did not. She had however plucked up courage to steal family jewellery, which she later learnt was of her grandmother, and hand it over to him.

One day, she said, when her parents caught her sneaking back home she was beaten with a belt and she went to file a police report.

But the police told the court that the girl's report was false as it was her attempt to leave home.

On evaluating the circumstances of the case the magistrate gave Mr Attard a suspended jail term and also put him on probation for four years. She ordered him to stay away from the girl until she turned 18.

Police Inspectors Raymond Aquilina, Victor Aquilina and Kevin Farrugia prosecuted.

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