A jilted lover bent on destroying his mistress's marriage e-mailed photos of their sexual escapades to a list of contacts and the pictures ended up on the notice board of the Iklin parish church, a court heard yesterday.
The 39-year-old father of three, whose name cannot be published by court order, was also accused of filming sexual encounters with the 36-year-old woman he was having an affair with and who happens to live in his street.
In fact, the man seems to have lost the plot when he found out that he was actually the third in line, after her husband and a second lover, who also lives in the same street.
According to the prosecution, the accused retaliated by e-mailing explicit pictures and video material he had taken of her.
Eventually, the pictures ended up stuck on the Iklin church notice board and to the shutters of some shops in the area, which is when the police were called in.
Shortly before this material surfaced, the woman's husband had discovered his wife's first affair with a neighbour.
He was willing to forgive her and she was attempting to make amends but the second neighbour found out he was not the only one having an extramarital affair with her and embarked on a mission to end her marriage.
Inspector Elton Taliana said the accused had first tried to give the impression that the pictures had been released by the first lover but the police took his computer and established he was the source of the e-mail.
The man yesterday pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Anthony Vella to eight counts of pornography, including making the material available in places that could be accessible to underaged children. He was also charged with damaging the woman's car and relapsing.
Magistrate Anthony Vella turned down the man's request for bail and he was remanded in custody.
The prosecution, among other things, objected to bail on the basis that many of the witnesses who are expected to testify in the case are people who live in his same street and town.
Police Inspectors Taliana and Graziella Muscat prosecuted while lawyers Franco Debono and Charmaine Cherrett appeared for the accused.