A mother who lied in court about her young son being hit with a metal rod in his genitals by his grandfather has been handed a suspended sentence and ten-year general interdiction for false testimony.

Rita Grech, 35, had told a court that the grandfather had hit the child while in the presence of two social workers, back in August 2011. 

The grandfather had pulled down the child's trousers to reveal a bruise where the blow landed and the boy had later even told his father about it, the woman had claimed.

Subsequently, however, in the course of criminal action against the woman for perjury, the two social workers who had witnessed the whole scene said no such thing had ever happened. 

Both eyewitnesses declared that the boy had never stripped off his clothes, as alleged by the mother, but had merely pulled up his shirt revealing his stomach.

The court, presided over by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, observed that the woman’s version had clearly been contradicted by the two eye witnesses, adding further that the accused could not “be believed, as she should not have been believed on the 8th of May 2013 [when she testified]. Without a doubt, her testimony is untrue.”

Noting further that the accused was not a first time offender, as evidenced by her criminal record, the court declared her guilty of having given false testimony and condemned her to a one-year jail term suspended for two years, in addition to a 10-year general interdiction.

Inspector Priscilla Caruana Lee prosecuted.