A 44-year-old man from Cospicua this morning admitted in court to raping his three daughters. He started raping two of them when they were 12 and the other when she was 11.

The man cannot be named by court order to protect the identity of the girls.

The court was told that the first case started when the man invited his daughter, 12, to go with him to see some Playstation and other equipment. But instead he took her to a bar where he got her drunk and then violently raped her in a room.

He subsequently raped her another three times and he only stopped when the girl thought she was pregnant.

He, however, then started the same tactic for his second daughter. On one occasion he also raped her in his car. The cases continued for three years with the girl sometimes being raped twice a month.

The man then turned his attentions to his younger daughter. The first time he raped her was in a room in Ghajn Dwieli and he subsequently raped her several times, even while she was recovering from stomach surgery.

The man used to threaten his daughters and even make them swear not to reveal anything.

It was only when the two younger daughters spoke to each other that they realised that they had shared the same experience, and then they found that their older sister had suffered the ordeals too.

Following a plea bargaining agreement, the man was jailed for 10 years and fined €3,100.