Child molestation convictions against Emmanuel Camilleri were quashed by the first hall of the Civil Court today after it found they were based on lies.

Mr Camilleri was also struck off the child offenders' register.

Mr Camilleri had filed a constitutional application against Inspector Louise Calleja, the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General. He claimed that the criminal proceedings against him had violated his right to a fair hearing. He also claimed that his right to privacy and family life had been violated as a result of his criminal convictions.

Although the court dismissed Mr Camilleri's claims of human rights violations, it ruled that he had suffered a serious injustice as a result of criminal convictions based upon the false testimony of his daughter who had herself later been found guilty of perjury.

The court heard that Mr Camilleri's estranged wife, Lisa Camilleri had in 2002 alleged he had sexually assaulted their daughter, who was a minor at the time. Criminal proceedings were filed against Mr Camilleri and he was found guilty by the Magistrates Court in September 2011 and sentenced to 24 months imprisonment. The judgment was confirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeal in May 2013.

Mr Camilleri had then asked the police to prosecute his daughter for perjury and she had admitted to the charges against her, claiming she had been pressured by her mother to give false testimony against her father. But, this notwithstanding, Mr Camilleri's criminal conviction remained in force.

In today's judgment Mr Justice Micallef said that what Mr Camilleri had undergone was the direct result of his daughter's actions, since she had given false testimony during his criminal proceedings only to retract this testimony after he had been convicted. Mr Camilleri had suffered an injustice which had only come to light after he had been convicted on the basis of false evidence.

The court could not ignore this injustice once it was aware of it and was determined to provide Mr Camilleri with a remedy, even though his constitutional application had been filed against the prosecuting inspector, the police commissioner and the Attorney General, none of whom were responsible for the injustice.

Mr Justice Micallef said the courts were entitled to give orders to ensure an individual's human rights were observed and protected. He ruled that the effective remedy in this case was the annulling of the judgments given by the Magistrates' Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal against Mr Camilleri, and this on the basis that the judgments had been based on false evidence. The court also ordered the removal of Mr Camilleri's name from the sex offenders register.

Mr Camilleri had served 400 days of his two-year jail term before being released. 

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.