A man accused of sexually abusing his 10-year-old twin nieces when he was 14 has been acquitted because the magistrate had serious doubts about the allegations made.

The accused, now 20 and hailing from Żebbuġ, is not being named both to protect the identity of the victims and also because he was a minor when charged. He has always denied abusing the girls.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli heard that the girls’ grandmother had reported to government agency Appoġġ that their mother’s partner had touched them. Shortly afterwards, the mother asked for the report to be changed in the sense say it was in fact her brother who had done so and not her partner. In fact, action was taken against the uncle, who was 14 at the time.

The girls testified that the accused made them dance for him and also had sexual intercourse with them. They said they had told their aunt what had happened but she had done nothing about it.

In her testimony, the aunt denied that she had been told of abuse carried out by her brother and said the girls had pointed their finger at their mother’s partner. The grandmother testified that her daughter had met her partner at Mount Carmel Hospital’s psychiatric unit. She said that her daughter had only accused her son of abusing the girls out of revenge for reporting her partner.

Magistrate Demicoli noted that, during the proceedings, the girls’ parents had decided to drop the charges against the accused where the law permitted that to be done. That raised doubts as to the veracity of the allegations, which were so serious.

Further doubts were raised when the court considered the way in which the initial reports had been made.

In view of such observations, the court decided to acquit the accused of all charges.