A 56-year-old man from Birkirkara has been jailed for four years after he was found guilty of defiling a six-year-old girl.

A court heard that the accused used to visit a relative of the girl in Marsascala and the abuse took place in the spare bedroom.

The girl's mother testified that in June 2007, her daughter had arrived home from school holding a drawing about sexual abuse given to the pupils by Sedqa officials.

When the mother asked her daughter whether she knew what to do if that happened to her, the girl burst into tears and then described what her grandfather's friend did to her.

She spoke of two incidents, where the man touched her intimately, exposed himself and forced her to touch him.

The accused, whose name cannot be published by court order, had denied the girl's claims, but the court said his testimony was confusing. The accused had claimed that it was the girl who wanted to 'play' with him. He also denied having touched himself in an intimate manner in front of the girl, saying he had touched a lump on his lower belly.

The court said it had no doubt of the girl's version of events. The cases were not reported earlier because the girl was so young that she had not realised the gravity of what had happened to her before the Sedqa officials' visit.

The man was jailed for four years and his name has been listed on the sexual offenders' register.