Tristan Falzon, 30, from Qormi, a recovering drug addict, was today jailed for three years after a court heard how he forced a 16-year-old girl into prostitution some seven years ago.

The girl, now a 23-years-old woman, told the court how she was abandoned by her mother who left for the UK when she was 14. She started dating Mr Falzon when she was very young, but they broke up.

At the age of 16, she met him again and he began taking her down to Marsa to prostitute herself. She did as she was told because she was so scared of him, she said, adding that on her first night she slept with nine men making €23 a time.

She gave the money to Mr Falzon. She was scared of him and even heard that he had forcibly shaved the head of another woman that was working for him when she refused to cooperate.

She said that she spent time living at the YMCA in Valletta and also at Dar Spinelli that was like a “prison” because of the strict conditions there. She then moved in with another man. 

In his own testimony, Mr Falzon denied ever forcing the woman into prostitution and said that she was a liar.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli in her considerations noted that the woman  had a tumultuous life and had sexual experiences before meeting Mr Falzon. Although he was charged with defiling her, the evidence proved that she was well versed when it came to sexual matters and what went on between them could not be considered by law to be defilement.

The magistrate, however, found Mr Falzon  guilty of forcing her into prostitution and jailed him after taking into consideration the seriousness of the crime and the fact that he was a reforming drug addict.