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.