A 56-year-old man from Birkirkara was jailed for four years after he was found guilty of defiling a six-year-old girl in her grandfather’s house.

The man, who cannot be named by court order, was visiting the girl’s sickly grandfather when he touched her intimately and forced her to touch him in a spare bedroom in 2006 and 2007.

The case came to light after employees of the government agency Sedqa went to the girl’s school and explained to students what sexual abuse was and she realised what had happened to her.

The girl’s mother testified that her daughter had arrived home one day with a drawing given to them by the agency and the girl pointed to a rabbit cartoon character on the drawing and said:“Poor guy, he’s been sexually abused.”

At that point, she asked her daughter whether she knew what to do if anything similar happened to her and the young girl suddenly burst out crying and with some hesitation told her mother what had happened to her.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said that she had no doubt whatsoever that the girl was credible, something which could not be said of the accused.

The man, she said, had testified in a confused manner, claiming that when he was playing games with the girl in the bedroom, he tried to hide a lump on his lower stomach, which popped up from under his shirt.

He said that it was the girl who had wanted to play and they went to the bedroom because the corridor was being washed by a relative at the time.

Magistrate Demicoli ordered that the name of the accused be added to the sex offenders’ register.