A legal loophole that allows registered sex offenders to organise parties for underage teenagers needs to be closed, according the Children’s Commissioner.
Promoter Joel Caruana, the 24-year-old who was twice convicted of engaging in sexual activity with minors, cannot by law be stopped from holding parties for under 18s.
This is because the law regulating the sex offenders’ register does not cover party organisers, who rent establishments in which to organise their events.
“The [Children’s Commissioner’s] office recommends that the Protection of Minors Act be amended so as to clearly include the requirement for persons who rent out an establishment for the purposes of organising an activity – which children can attend – to be vetted by the owner of the establishment,” a spokesman said. The law regulates people who recruit, engage or employ a registered person. It forbids registered offenders from being employed in institutions that involve minors. But a person who organises an event is not technically employed by the owner of the venue.
The office recommends that the Act be amended to require vetting of persons who organise activities which children can attend
Last weekend, Mr Caruana organised an event themed ‘Girls’ Invasion’ – for girls as young as 17 – in a Paceville club. He came under scathing criticism on social media and, speaking to The Sunday Times of Malta, denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Caruana has been on the sex offenders’ list since he was sentenced to a 10-month prison term, suspended for two years, for engaging in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl in 2010. He also received a second suspended jail term after he was pictured cupping the breast of a 14-year-old girl at one of his contentious ‘I Love Music’ teen parties three years later.
The spokesman for the Children’s Commissioner said one of the main problems was that the legal drinking age is set at 17, while minors are defined as being under 18.
This means that 17-year-olds, who are still minors, can attend parties where alcohol is served. The commissioner felt this discrepancy should be removed and the drinking age increased to 18.
This was compounded by the failure of the law regulating the sex offenders’ register to cover party organisers who rent out venues, the spokesman said.
“As a result, minors who are able to enter a place of entertainment because they are not below the minimum age for drinking alcohol are vulnerable to the potential negative influence of the party organiser.”
The spokesman added that four years ago the commissioner steered a working group which drafted a subsidiary law regulating the practice of teen parties for those under 17. The law remains in draft form.