Beach rapist's jail term halved

A young man who had been jailed for raping a 14-year-old student five years ago had his jail term halved on appeal.

The youth, who was 17 at the time, was jailed for four years and his two friends, who were both 16, were each jailed for two years for complicity in the rape that took place on a beach in St Julians on June 27, 2002.

All three appealed and Mr Justice David Scicluna yesterday handed down judgement in the case against the (then) 17-year-old.

The court heard how on June 27, 2002, the three friends were at Bamboo Bar when they saw a boy, who they knew, with his foreign girlfriend and noticed that she was drunk.

The 17-year-old told his two friends that by the end of the night he would have slept with her.

Some time after 11 p.m. the three friends noticed the couple leave the bar and head towards a nearby beach. That was when the 17-year-old decided to follow the couple accompanied by his two friends.

In his testimony, the 17-year-old explained that he and his friends had noticed that the girl was almost naked on the beach with her boyfriend. The 17-year-old approached the couple, the girl's boyfriend tried to hit him and a struggle ensued but he still managed to get hold of the girl. He said he had sex with her in the presence of his two friends, one of whom held the girl by the shoulders. He then told his friends: "You see how I managed to have sex with her".

The court also heard the girl explain that she had come to Malta to learn English and on the night of her rape she got drunk.

She said she was with her Maltese boyfriend, the only boy she had ever slept with, when she was assaulted.

During the assault, the girl's boyfriend ran to call the police but by the time officers arrived the three friends had left the scene.

Mr Justice Scicluna went through the evidence and concluded that the charges had been proven.

He noted, however, that on handing down judgment, the Magistrates' Court had not taken the age of the accused into account. The law laid down that: "If the offender has attained the age of 14 but is under the age of 18 years, the punishment applicable to the offence shall be diminished by one or two degrees".

For these reasons the judge reduced the jail term to two years.

Names are not being published as the accused was a minor at the time of the commission of the crime.

Lawyer Anglu Farrugia was defence counsel.