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Experts keep mum on paedophilia

Despite the seriousness of crimes such as paedophilia and child abuse, statistics regarding the local incidence of related offences are not easy to come by.

And trying to get comments on such offences is not easy, with many officials still preferring to remain tight-lipped on what is still widely viewed as a taboo subject.

MaltaToday first contacted the police department for the statistics some three weeks ago. The questions asked centred largely around the number of people who have been charged with paedophilia this year, the number of people found guilty or acquitted and the number of people currently being investigated. However it appears that the department in charge of keeping these statistics is not readily identifiable.

The statistics would be especially useful in the light of the proposed amendments to the Criminal Code, which would remove the necessity of the abused children appearing in court to give evidence against their alleged molesters. Such statistics specifying the number of people who were investigated and the number of those who were eventually charged and convicted would shed further light on the need for a speedy amendment to the law in order to make legal the private collection of evidence by competent officials. The evidence would then be transmitted via satellite or other viable means during the trial in court.

It is believed that a large number of suspected cases do not make it to court because the child or his guardians refuse point blank to put the minor through the trauma of testifying live in the courtroom and coming face to face with the alleged offender. And even of those cases which do make it to the courtroom, only a relatively small percentage result in a conviction because the minor is intimidated by the formal atmosphere and the knowledge that his aggressor is looking at him while he gives evidence. This ends up affecting the minor’s behaviour on the witness stand and as a consequence, the verdict.