The Attorney General has appealed a probation order given to a young woman who admitted on national TV to making up sex abuse allegations against her father.

Leanne Camilleri, 20, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Doreen Clarke to repeatedly lying about being sexually abused by her father from 2004, when she was eight years old, up to recently, when she retracted the allegation.

Leanne Camilleri

She claimed she was forced to make the allegations by her mother, Lisa May Camilleri, who is pleading not guilty to perjury.

A magistrate had placed her on probation for three years and ordered to do 100 hours of community service.

News about the appeal emerged during the compilation of evidence against Lisa May Camilleri, who stands charged with inciting her daughter to give false evidence.
There was a brief moment of confusion in the courtroom when the magistrate informed the prosecution that the appeal had been filed, with the prosecuting officers saying they had not been notified.

Ms Camilleri’s estranged husband, Emanuel, spent nearly 400 days in jail after he was found guilty of defiling his daughter.

The 42-year-old was serving a two-year term but was provisionally released by order of the Constitutional Court pending the outcome of the criminal case against his former wife.

The case continues in December.