A 53-year-old police constable was remanded in custody today after having been accused in court of defiling his 11-year-old daughter last January.

During the proceedings, defence counsel Jose Herrera and Michael Schriha said the allegations appeared to stem from animosity between the constable and his wife since they were going through separation proceedings.

Police inspector Louise Calleja, prosecuting, insisted that was not the case. Such possible links were the first thing which her department investigated, she said. But it had resulted that as soon as the girl told her mother what had happened, the mother took the child, packed their bags and left the house. The mother, she said, was petrified of her husband.

In pleading for bail, Dr Herrera said that remanding the accused in custody may result in personal risk in view of the alleged crime and the fact that the accused was a policeman. He was not saying that public officers should be treated differently from other people, he said, but this was a matter of personal safety.

The prosecution said it was feared that the accused may speak to his wife and daughter and tamper with the evidence.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit remanded the accused in custody but recommended to the Director of Prisons that he should be kept in the Forensic Unit at Mt Carmel Hospital for his own safety.