A man has been cleared of having committed sexual acts with his 11-year-old daughter and of exposing her to pornography involving animals after a magistrate ruled that the allegations only surfaced after the two had fallen out.

The court heard how the girl told the mother about the alleged abuse in January 2012, claiming that the abuse had taken place in the summer of 2009. The mother immediately reported the matter to Appogg. The father is a 56-year-old from Fgura.

The girl claimed that her father had shown her pornographic films, some of them involving animals and how her father had repeatedly asked her to perform sexual acts with him. She also claimed that, on one occasion, her father placed her hand on his genitals to show her how he was getting excited watching the porn film.

The girl claimed, in a statement under oath before a magistrate, that her father had offered her €20 and an entire month off school in return for sexual acts with him. She also claimed that her father had once threatened to kill her mother if she told her about what was going on.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Audrey Demicoli heard how the mother laughed at her daughter when she told her about the pornographic films her father was showing her.

But the mother denied this, insisting she immediately reported the matter to Appogg.

The magistrate heard how the father and daughter had fallen out because he did not approve of her boyfriend, with whom she was having sex. It was also after this incident that she invented these things about her father, in a bid to get back at him, the magistrate said.

The magistrate also noted how the girl had tried to halt proceedings against her father, another indication that she was lying. She also found it strange how the girl claimed she was wearing a fur coat during the alleged abuse when it was summer.

Given the inconsistencies in the girl's testimony, the court cleared the father of the charges brought against him, also after noting that the police never found any pornographic films in his possession, as his daughter had alleged.

Lawyers Michael and Lucio Sciriha defended the man