Parents cleared of injuring hyperactive daughter

A couple were yesterday cleared of seriously injuring their daughter on a number of occasions after the Magistrates' Court heard that the girl suffers from hyper cyanotic disorder which makes her prone to accidents.

On clearing the teenager's parents, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera said she was concerned that it took nine years for the case to draw to a close during which time the girl had to live in an institute even though she wanted to be with her parents.

The parents had been charged with seriously injuring their daughter, now 15 years old, and abandoning her from 1994 onwards.

Police Constable Lawrence Vella testified that he had received a phone call from St Luke's Hospital informing him that they had treated a six-year-old girl with serious injuries. Social worker Eugenio Galea testified that the girl had suffered injuries that could not be explained and that they had occurred while in the company of her parents.

Mr Galea also told the court that the girl had gone to live with the Ursuline nuns because her mother suffered from health problems. The girl had then returned to live with her parents when she was two years old.

Mr Galea added that the girl's attitude towards her parents was one of fear, something that was not evident in her brothers and sisters.

The court heard that, in one year, the girl was admitted to hospital various times with fractured arms, missing patches of hair, black eyes and fractured legs. There was no apparent explanation to such injuries.

The girl's parents always maintained that the girl had hurt herself, singling out an incident when the girl fell off her bed. In November 1995, a care order was issued and the girl returned to the nuns after she was admitted to hospital with two broken arms.

An Ursuline nun testified that the girl had looked forward to the weekly visits by her mother, adding that the girl was very hyperactive and preferred playing outside.

Several doctors explained that, among other injuries the girl had suffered, she had been admitted with fractures, pieces of foam in her nose, swollen kidneys and a perforated eardrum.

In 2000, Joseph Saliba, a psychiatrist, told the court that the girl was under medication to control her hyperactive behaviour, saying that her condition was uncommon in children. Dr Saliba also said that children who suffer from this condition might cause other people around them to act aggressively.

The girl's father took the witness stand in 2005 and told the court that he worked as a watchman, security officer and a construction worker. He had been with the girl's mother for over 20 years but lived at home to take care of his ailing mother. He said that most of the injuries on his daughter occurred when he was at work and he always took her straightaway to hospital.

The mother said that, when she had moved house, the number of incidents increased because it was a larger building. Once the girl had jumped out of her cot and fell down the stairs. The only time the mother hit her children was on the legs and she categorically denied hitting them on the face or limbs.

Aged 12, the girl testified in 2005 informing the court that she had been at a foster home for nine years, adding that she got on very well with her mother. She also asked the court to be allowed to return home.

In a court hearing some time later, the girl threatened to leave the foster home as she had still not been allowed to return home.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera said that no evidence was ever brought to prove that the girl had been hit by her parents and, from her siblings' testimony, it resulted that it was not the parents that had hit her.

The girl's siblings had testified that the girl would accidentally injure herself and the court noted that she was indeed very naughty and the hyperactive disorder she suffered from made the situation worse.

In handing down judgment, Magistrate Scerri Herrera said: "The evidence presented clearly shows... that it was her parents who took her to hospital whenever they realised something was wrong. They cooperated with the authorities and would visit their daughter every day while she was residing in an institute".

The magistrate criticised the way the prosecution had dealt with the case allowing it to drag on because the prosecution had not turned up on various occasions.

The parents were cleared of all charges.

Police Inspector Maria Stella Attard prosecuted.