A man was jailed for 10 years yesterday for raping his nephew and niece and sexually abusing their cousin when they were five, eight and 13 years old.

The acts took place over a period of four to five years until 2007, when the father of the raped siblings filed a police report after his daughter spilt the beans with a friend’s mother.

The man, who was diagnosed with clinical depression and who had been admitted to Mount Carmel Mental Hospital in the 1970s, was sexually abused when he was younger, it emerged in court.

Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani found the man guilty of raping the siblings, of sexually abusing another of his nieces and of defiling the two girls during the summer months when the families met to go swimming or for family ­barbeques.

The man’s identity, being the victims’ uncle, as well as the locations where the sexual acts took place cannot be published by court order to protect the identity of the three underage children.

The police began investigating the case in April 2007 when the siblings’ father, whose sister had married the accused 20 years earlier, reported the case to the police and insisted they take criminal proceedings against his brother-in-law.

When he was questioned by the police, the accused immediately admitted his involvement and also gave the police a copy of a video he shot with his mobile phone of his wife performing oral sex on him, a video he had shown the children.

He told investigators the abuse took place during weekend barbeques in the summer months. He also told them he had been sexually abused by a couple when he was younger.

The court heard the eight-year-old girl explain how her uncle used to touch her, expose himself to her and have physical contact.

The five-year-old said she used to be with her cousin when their uncle asked them to remove their swimsuit so he could take photos of them naked. He also touched them.

She said they used to play sex games, with them taking on the role of nurses while the accused played the patient. He would ask them to examine him, also referring to the “instrument that would make them feel better”.

Both girls said their uncle touched them while they were swimming and when they went camping in summer.

On a number of occasions, the uncle forced the brother and sister to perform oral sex on him and, in both cases, had physical contact.

The boy, who was in form three at the time and did not know what was happening to his sister and cousin, had stopped him because it hurt.

Magistrate Padovani explained what constituted penetration in terms of law. In this case, there was no penetration except when the accused forced the children to perform oral sex on him. This amounted to rape.

The court heard psychiatrist Mark Xuereb explain that his client suffered from clinical depression, had known he had committed a mistake and had had gone from being the victim to the perpetrator. He also had an alcohol abuse problem.

In jailing him for 10 years, Magistrate Padovani noted that the abuse had taken place regularly over a period of four to five years.