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Brothers cleared of defiling girl in Paceville

Two brothers were acquitted of defiling a 16-year-old girl and one of them was found guilty of committing lewd acts in public.

The brothers, aged 19 and 20, were not found guilty of defiling the girl after she had testified that their sexual encounters were consensual.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani, banned publication of the names of the brothers and the girl to protect their identities.

The court heard that after clubbing and visiting various pubs, the girl had met one of the brothers in Paceville on August 25, 2004. After having consensual sexual intercourse with him in an open garden accessible to the public, he left and went back to the bar where they had met, leaving her trailing behind.

After feeling used and angry at the way he had treated her, she met his brother and told him what had happened earlier, flirted with him and then they proceeded to the toilets where they had sexual intercourse.

The court took into account the girl's evidence where she said that she had consented to having sex with both boys and that the second encounter was engineered as a form of vengeance.

Before handing down judgement, the court said the demeanour of the girl's personality was beset with anger against her parents. She had been in boarding school since the age of 11 and would only see her parents every fourth month or for two months in summer.

After hearing the girl testify that the sexual intercourse on both occasions had occurred consensually, the magistrate cleared the brothers of defilement.

In his evidence, one of the boys had admitted to having sexual intercourse in the garden and subsequently the magistrate found him guilty of committing lewd acts in public and conditionally discharged him for 18 months.

Police Inspectors Teresa Sciberras and Raymond Aquilina prosecuted.

Lawyer Roberto Montalto appeared for the two boys.

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Comments

cynthia busuttil (2 weeks, 2 days ago)
Putting the actual incident aside momentarily, the girl seems in desperate need of attention. She feels abandoned by the people she 'cares' for. I hope attention is given to her mental state before she destroys herself. (Cynthia Busuttil, Sliema)
Jane Mifsud (2 weeks, 2 days ago)
I'm sorry, but I simply cannot see the point of having a law stating that if sex was consensual, if the girl is minor, it's rape!!! It doesn't make sense at all.

This girl in question, had sex with the second person to take revenge on the first one... So much for morality! I can understand that she was hurt at the way the first man treated her, but pardon me, what kind of message does a person give to another if she has sex within a few hours of meeting him, and in a public place????!!!!!

A stroll in Paceville before 1 a.m. nowadays would mean bumping into 14-year-olds... If one takes a look at what girls wear, one wonders whether the parents know what their kids look like.

I don't approve of sex with minors, mind you... I don't want to be misunderstood. Then again, one cannot put hay close to fire and expect that there won't be any bonfires either.
Joseph Galea (2 weeks, 2 days ago)
In North America there is such a thing as 'statutory rape.' Irrespective of whether the sex was consensual, if the girl is a minor then the act is rape!

I'm not sure if that concept exists in Malta but If the age of consent here is 18 then how can sex with a minor (someone under the age of consent) not be rape?

What did Dickens say about the law?......
Rachel Azzopardi (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
As far as I know, sexual encounters with a minor would amount to defilement even when the minor gives her consent.
Jennifer Cosaitis (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
Funny that the age of consent stands at 18 years but the age where one can legally consent to marriage is 16 years of age..
James A. Tyrrell (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
I seem to remember reading that the age of sexual consent in Malta was 18. If that is indeed the case I fail to understand how it could be accepted in a court of law that a 16 year old girl had given her consent for sex!

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