A 16-year-old girl has expressed dismay at a legal amendment that prevented police from taking action against her brother – whom she claims raped her six years ago – because he was under 14 at the time of the alleged crime.
“This law makes absolutely no sense. It’s as though you are telling people like my brother they can do what they want until they are 14.
“Let’s face it, someone who can do these things will not stop the day he turns 14. Something must be done to change this senseless law and make sure people like him face some sort of consequence,” the teenager told The Sunday Times of Malta.
A legal amendment came into force on February 14, 2014, increasing the age of criminal responsibility from nine to 14.
This law makes absolutely no sense
This means that the law does not deem an offender under 14 to fully understand the consequences of their actions and, therefore, it cannot attribute any form of criminal responsibility to them.
Under the amendment children aged between 14 and 16 can be charged in a juvenile court, whereas over-16s must appear in adult courts but can get a reduction in punishment for being minors.
Before the amendment came into force last year, Malta had the lowest age of criminal responsibility in Europe – a title now held by the UK, where offenders can be as young as 10. Most EU member states set the age between 14 and 16. In France it is 13, in Italy 14 and Spain 16.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry said the amendment was made “in order to bring Maltese law into line with the modern day approach on criminal responsibility”.
Although children under 14 may not be subject to criminal action, she said, there were social measures in place, such as the procedure to issue a care order to enable reformative and educational measures to be taken. But in this case, the boy had turned 18 by the time the report was filed – meaning he was already an adult.
The girl recounted how, on February 25 last year, her mother accompanied her to file a police report, seen by this newspaper.
The girl said the abuse happened since “as far as I can remember” when she went to sleep in her brother’s room because she was scared of the dark.
She alleges that the situation escalated when their parents separated and their mother started working night shifts. But she did not speak up for five years as she was scared of the repercussions.
Over the years her godmother noticed something was wrong with her and she opened up to her a year ago. The godmother convinced her to speak up and she told her mother, who in turn confronted the brother. But after filing the police report, she said, police told her they could not prosecute since a few weeks earlier – on February 14, 2014 – a legal amendment had come into force increasing the age of criminal responsibility from nine to 14.
The mother confirmed that her son had confessed to his actions. “He needs help. I don’t know how to help him,” she said with pain in her eyes as she recounted how she believed his behaviour was the result of the violence he witnessed and suffered from his father.
“The law needs to change to protect other Maltese children who are going through this,” her daughter added.
Victim Support Malta director Roberta Lepre said that, once the Victims’ Directive was adopted, it would ensure that victims were directed to existing services even if prosecution was not possible.
“While understanding that the criminal responsibility of minors is a contentious issue, it is also important to ensure that action is taken in order to prevent further crimes from occurring and to protect the interests and well-being of third parties.
“We believe that a balance should be struck between the interests of all the different parties to a situation,” she said.
It was vital to create synergies between different service providers in order to ensure victims received holistic support and that offenders were reformed in order to prevent repeat offences, she added.