A man who defiled three of his neighbour’s children has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty of showing them pornographic videos and forcing them to touch him.

The 46-year-old man, who is not being named to protect the identity of the children, had lived in the same block of flats in Birżebbuġa as the children when the incidents happened, in December 2007 and earlier.

The victims were two boys and a girl, aged 9, 10 and 12 at the time.

The dire consequences of the abuse were revealed when the older boy’s psychologist told the court that while the child was once an extrovert he now felt “emptiness inside”.

Taking the witness stand, this boy said that he had gone to the man’s flat together with the other two children where they would play during the summer.

On one occasion, the man began showing him pornographic films and told him to strip naked. When the boy refused, the man threw him up against a wall and forced him to undress.

The truth was exposed when the children told a social worker who happened to live in the vicinity about what had happened to them.

The man’s daughter, who lived with him, said she had never found any pornographic films at home and claimed the children had been told what to say by the social worker.

The woman said the social worker had been reported to the Labour Office and was blaming her father for filing the report. Out of spite she had told the children what to say.

The social worker’s daughter had a relationship with the man’s son, she said.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli gave weight to the children’s testimony, arguing that their versions were corroborated by what the police had found.

After taking into consideration the serious nature of the crime and the terrible effects it had on the children, the magistrate sentenced the man to prison.