A detention officer facing court charges after being accused of sexual abuse by a female asylum seeker in 2011 retained his job and was not investigated internally by the Detention Service, which had informed the police of the case.

Allegedly, the officer had become too familiar with the immigrant and brought her inappropriate gifts

The court case continues and, according to the Home Affairs Ministry, the next sitting is scheduled for October 24.

The case was raised in a report by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punish-ment (CPT).

CPT members wrote the report after a visit in September 2011 but the Government only gave permission for it to be published last week.

According to the CPT, a female foreign national met by the delegation at Mount Carmel Hospital claimed that she had been the subject of sexual abuse by a detention officer at Lyster detention centre.

During end-of-visit talks with the Maltese authorities, the CPT delegation was informed the case was being investigated and that the officer in question had been temporarily transferred to Safi detention centre to prevent further contact with female detainees.

A Home Affairs Ministry spokesman said the detention service officer involved was accused of “sexually harassing” the asylum seeker.

“Allegedly, the officer had become too familiar with the immigrant, had brought her inappropriate gifts and there had been inappropriate contact between them,” the spokesman said.

The complaint was made to the Detention Service commander, who passed on the information to the police.

There was no internal Detention Service investigation.

In addition to being transferred to the male-only Safi detention centre, the accused was barred from entering Lyster Barracks and Mount Carmel Hospital, where his alleged victim was receiving treatment for mental health problems.

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Malta expressed concern about the detention of women in centres administered almost exclusively by men.

There are only two women staff members in the whole Detention Service.

JRS said the system “lacks a proper mechanism to examine complaints of ill-treatment or abuse and creates a high risk of abuse for female detainees”.

“Apart from the risk of abuse, there is the daily humiliation of being completely dependent on male staff for everything, including provision of personal items such as underwear and sanitary items.

“Many times, women are even accompanied to the doctor by male staff.”

The only monitoring mechanism that exists is the Board of Detention Visitors.

Strictly speaking, it does not conduct investigations and the recommendations it makes are not binding upon the commander.

Referring to the case mentioned in the CPT report, JRS said: “While the commander may refer any matter to the police for investigation if he deems fit, allegations of misconduct or abuse also raise issues relating to the proper administration of detention centres and the treatment of detainees that go way beyond the question of individual criminal responsibility.”

Even if such behaviour did not constitute a breach of criminal law or the complainant did not wish to institute criminal proceedings, complaints regarding conduct that was unethical, abusive and in direct breach of detention centre regulations still needed to be investigated and, where a breach was identified, addressed by the administration, JRS said.

“In our view, ensuring that this happens is the direct responsibility of the commander. Failure to do this will inevitably lead to the creation of a culture of impunity.”

pcooke@timesofmalta.com

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.