The Attorney General has filed an appeal over the Magistrates' Court decision to acquit a priest of rape because of an error in the charge sheet.

Fr Godwin Scerri was earlier this month found guilty of sexual abuse but acquitted of rape.

He was jailed for five years but is appealing the decision.

In his judgement, Magistrate Saviour Demicoli had noted that the victim testified that Fr Scerri had raped him at St Joseph's Home in Ħamrun and not in Marfa, as indicated in the charges.

In his appeal, the AG questioned the magistrate's decision and asked the Court of Appeal to reconsider arguing that a precise indication of where the crime took place was not essential to the finding of guilt or otherwise.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.