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A young woman who admitted on national television to making up sex abuse allegations against her father, who had been imprisoned for two years, also told her mother’s former boyfriend she had lied, a court heard yesterday.

Alan Thorn said that Leanne Camilleri told him four years ago that her mother, Lisa May, had instructed her to make up the allegations.

He was testifying in the case against his ex-girlfriend who is charged with perjury.

The prosecution is alleging that Mrs Camilleri persuaded her daughter to lie about her father, Emanuel, who spent nearly 400 days in jail after he was found guilty of defiling his daughter.

The 48-year-old was serving a two-year term but was provisionally released by order of the Constitutional Court pending the outcome of a case against his former wife. The girl is expected to be arraigned too.

Mr Camilleri has always maintained his innocence.

Mr Thorn recalled that the girl had once left the house following a fight with her mother. He went to look for her and found her on a bus stop. He persuaded her to return home and, as she was crying, he asked her whether it was true that her father had sexually abused her. The girl said it had all been a lie concocted by her mother, Mr Thorn testified.

Mr Thorn said he and Mr Camilleri worked together but it was only two to three weeks ago that he realised who Mr Camilleri was and what had happened to him.

He said he had started working with Mr Camilleri when Arriva launched its bus service in Malta and had seen him crying at work on a number of occasions but he never stopped to ask what was wrong.

TV presenter Peppi Azzopardi, on whose programme the girl admitted to lying about her father, said he had been following the case for seven years. He said he had tried to help by making the authorities realise that the girl had lied about her father.

Mr Camilleri said in court that, during the criminal proceedings against him, his daughter had alleged that he had raped her, yet the evidence had shown nothing of the sort.

He is expected to continue to give evidence on Tuesday.

Promised money to retract claims

The girl who admitted on TV to lying that her father had raped her when she was eight was promised pocket money by her aunt if she retracted the allegations, a senior police officer said yesterday.

Police Inspector Louise Calleja testified before Mr Justice Joseph Micallef that Leanne Camilleri’s brother, Luke, who died of cancer when he was 14, had testified that he overheard his aunt, Sandra Carabott, offer the money.

He had said that Ms Carabott had told his sister she would give her Lm5, equivalent to €11.65, if she said that the allegations were false. She had also been offered a mobile phone by other family members.

The judge is presiding over a constitutional case in which Mr Camilleri is arguing that his right to a fair hearing was breached. The case was filed last July shortly after Mr Camilleri’s conviction and the two-year-jail term he was given had been confirmed on appeal.

Ms Calleja said the girl had testified five times during the course of the criminal proceedings against her father and confirmed her version each time. She also testified twice before a judge, again confirming her original version that she had been sexually abused by her father.

“I presented all evidence in favour and against, as is my duty”, the officer said, pointing out that Police Inspector Sandro Camilleri, who investigated the girl’s mother over perjury, had not consulted the police file or the records of the proceedings.

Final submissions in the case are expected in October.