Six girls all give similar account of abuse by their uncle
Uncle abused his nieces
A man who sexually abused his six nieces, all under 14, was sentenced to six years jail after a magistrate rejected his claim that it was all an invention of the parents.
The abuse happened in 2003 and in the previous two years at the house of the 53-year-old in Żebbuġ and at his beach house in Armier Bay, Mellieħa.
In his statement to the police, the man, the girls’ uncle by marriage, claimed that the children parents were hell-bent on getting revenge because they thought he was cheating on their sister with another woman.
Evidence against him however snowballed once one of the girls came forward and told her mother that she had been molested when she was 14 years old. She was 16 at the time. The mother spoke to her other children who recounted similar stories.
She then went to government social agency Appoġġ, which referred her to the police.
One of the victims, who was 11 years old at the time, testified that she was spending some time with her aunt and uncle in Armier Bay when the two had a heated argument. At one point, the man turned to the young girl and told her in a vulgar way that her grandfather had sex with his own daughter.
The versions given by the girls on how their uncle would abuse them were very similar to each other, Magistrate Antonio Mizzi said. He concluded that the man’s claim that this was all invented was not credible, especially when taking into consideration the children’s evidence.
Also, the psychological analysis of the children proved that what they said they had gone through did in fact happen, the magistrate noted.
Lawyers José Herrera and Veronique Dalli appeared for the man who is expected to appeal the judgement.