The police have instructed the family of the Nadur girl at the centre of rape allegations not to speak to the press, and have not acted on the family's claims that they were offered payment not to proceed with the court case, sources say.

Key witnesses have still not been interviewed three months after police said they were investigating claims that a lawyer and middlemen tried to buy the silence of the 14-year-old girl's family.

Early in October, police said investigations into the claims had been launched as soon as they were raised. But sources close to the family last month had said nobody of the main witnesses had been interviewed.

Shortly after their comments appeared in The Sunday Times on November 23, a police inspector told the family not to speak to the press. However, since then, according to the sources, none of the key witnesses were interviewed, and neither were the lawyers involved interviewed in connection with the claims.

Police were again asked to give an official update on the investigation during the past week but no response was forthcoming by the time the newspaper went to print.

The underhand move to approach the family was revealed by The Sunday Times shortly after four men were charged with offences related to the rape of the girl.

Brothers Peter Paul and Josef Said were accused of raping the 14-year-old, while Mark Lorry Said and Peter Paul Debono were charged with her defilement. They are all under house arrest.

The girl's mother had said a lawyer and close relatives of her daughter's alleged aggressors persuaded her family to sign a contract stating they would not testify in court in return for €7,000 in "psychological support" and a €23,000 guarantee pledging that the accused would not approach the girl.

The mother said she had signed the contract under intense pressure from the group, which included relatives of the Said brothers and a priest who acted as an intermediary, and out of fear of exposing the issue to the Gozitan community.

However, she regretted it immediately and together with her daughter, forged ahead with the complaint.

On the day the men were charged, the girl's mother said another approach was made, this time by two different lawyers (one from Gozo and another from Malta) who said they wanted to "see if they could come to an arrangement" over the men's arraignment.

The woman immediately called a family acquaintance and the men left.

The issue was raised in Parliament last month by Labour MP Evarist Bartolo who asked Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici to reveal the lawyers' names and whether any action would be taken over the family's claims.

The minister did not comment, saying there were pending court proceedings. The claims of interference were also raised by Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano in a judgment imposing stricter bail conditions on the accused on October 9.

The Chief Justice said there seemed to have been "manoeuvres" by people who had an interest to see the case does not reach the courts.

mmicallef@timesofmalta.com