The mobile phone from which a private sex video was allegedly stolen had been at two repair shops, complicating the police investigation, the Times of Malta has learnt.
Police sources said the investigation was following various leads but the fact that the video was filmed several months ago made it all the more difficult. “To complicate matters the phone had been at two repair shops some months ago – from where some of the employees have moved on,” the sources said.
The couple had filmed the video of themselves engaged in a sexual act. Only the young woman is recognisable.
Last week, the footage started making the rounds on social media, having been shared widely via messaging systems like Whats App and Messenger. While the police try to determine who first uploaded the video online, they are also looking into a criminal complaint filed by the couple last Friday against a man who shared the footage via Facebook.
The unwarranted publicity for what was supposed to have been a private video has wrecked the couple, according to their lawyer Andy Ellul.
Speaking to the Times of Malta yesterday, Dr Ellul refrained from commenting on the police investigation.
However, he said sharing the video publicly was a criminal offence.
“We asked the police to take criminal action against a man who used his Facebook account to share the video while commenting about it.”
Dr Ellul urged others to stop sharing the video so as not to perpetuate the couple’s misery. He also welcomed Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s public support of the couple.
Dr Muscat started his Sunday speech yesterday by defending the young woman and appealing for a more caring society.
WATCH: Dr Muscat slams people who shared sex video, is called a hypocrite
He said that he had been in touch with the woman’s parents and confirmed they were passing through a bad time. The Prime Minister called on men, in particular, to condemn the dissemination of the video, describing it as another form of abuse.
“It is our duty to show this person that she is the victim of the circumstances and must not be made to feel guilty. The person who did wrong was the one who circulated the footage. She could be our daughter, our sister, our wife,” Dr Muscat said.
He urged society not to ostracise the young woman, insisting that being Christian also meant not passing judgement on others.
“The circulation of the video is a criminal act and the justice system will be taking its course but now is the time for society to show that it has matured and is ready to offer solidarity,” Dr Muscat appealed.
But the Prime Minister was accused of adopting double standards by the Nationalist Party.
The PN observed that in May 2014, Cyrus Engerer was found guilty by a criminal court of distributing porn footage and at the time, Dr Muscat described him a “soldier of steel”. Mr Engerer, who gave up his Labour MEP candidature as a result of the court’s verdict, was later given a job in Brussels with a salary of €85,000.
“This is a classic case of [Joseph] Muscat’s double standards. This is Muscat’s populism: he does not say things as they are but according to what suits him best,” the PN said.