A 26-year-old man was today arraigned in court charged with attempting to participate in cyber sex with underage children and being in possession of indecent material of minors. 

Christian Coleiro, from Zebbug, pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him. 

Defence lawyers Toni Abela and Maria Karlsson requested a ban on the publication of not only their client's name but the entire case. But Magistrate Ian Farrugia turned down the request, banning only the publication of submissions made in court and details of police investigations. 

Police investigations began after footage was uploaded online after he was filmed allegedly participating in a Skype call with the aim of seeing a 13-year-old naked.

The footage was uploaded by the Facebook page “Mr Technical Difficult”, run by an American prankster.

The prankster posed as a 13-year-old girl who was willing to strip naked during a chat on Skype, with the aim of tracking online sexual predators. He first began the conversation through a chat, stating clearly stating that he was a 13-year-old girl. The Maltese man, whose web cam was switched on, replied with “great”.  

The call ended after the prankster switched on his own web cam and revealed his true identity.

Mr Coleiro was granted bail against a €500 deposit and a €2,000 personal guarantee. 

Police Inspector Joseph Busuttil prosecuted.