News 30/06/2002

Victims of rape

Recently a Norwegian student reported that she came close to being raped. A few weeks later a 14-year-old was sexually assaulted on a public bus by a 54-year old bus inspector who was found guilty on both counts: for molesting a minor and for committing a crime he was duty bound to prevent. The judge’s sentence put him behind bars for a mere year and a half. Only last Friday, a man was charged with raping an 11-year-old girl and defiling two other girls agsed 11 and 12 respectively.

The courts on Friday also sentenced a 53-year-old man from Mellieha to eight years in jail after finding him guilty of corrupting and raping two sisters, who were under 12 years of age when the crime was committed in 1998.

And the sordid picture was completed yesterday when the police accused three youths of raping a 14-year-old foreign girl at St Julians.

These recent cases of rape brought home to us the stark reality of the atrocities some people have to go through. This is made harder to comprehend when the victims are mere children. It is difficult to imagine what an 11-year-old girl feels and thinks when she goes through such an experience. Her personality and attitude to life may very well be permanently changed.

Asked by MaltaToday, the communications co-ordinator at the Health Division, Brian Cassar said that victims are treated at St Luke’s Hospital as cases of "alleged" rape. The confirmation of a rape case can only be done after a thorough investigation by the police, and subsequent ruling by a court of law on the advice of the court-appointed experts. "Statistics on the number of cases of alleged rape or alleged attempted rape are not routinely published, considering the delicate and confidential nature of the matter," said Mr Cassar. Many cases would still be under investigation by the Police Department.

In the year 2000, 30 cases of alleged rape or attempted rape were reported at St Luke’s Hospital. The figure for 2001 stood at 15 while the cases reported to date for this year are two. Countless others go unreported.

"The Police are notified when a case of alleged rape or attempted rape is reported at St. Luke’s Hospital. The individual is seen by a team, which includes specially trained medical and nursing staff from the Health Division, a police officer from the Police Department and a social worker from ‘Appogg’," Mr Cassar explained.

The health department official stressed the importance of privacy in these sensitive cases. "Privacy of the victim is safeguarded throughout and patient confidentiality is of paramount importance in this situation. Stringent protocols are in place to restrict the number of persons in the team, both to ensure privacy as well as to minimise further psychological stress to the victim."

MaltaToday tried to contact Interior Minister Tonio Borg by fax for his reaction to the alleged rape that took place in Paceville a couple of weeks ago. The newspaper was informed that the request was forwarded to the police. When contacted by phone a ministry official said that he would pass on MaltaToday’s request for the minister’s official reaction, after which he said, "God forbid we had to react to every case of rape! As far as Paceville is concerned, we have patrol squads and a mobile police station."

"The act of forcing a woman to have sexual intercourse against her will." This is the classic definition of rape, straight out of the dictionary. However, in this day and age, the meaning of rape has expanded somewhat from this narrow definition. Children and men are now also included in this definition. Sexual intercourse with a consenting minor is rape. If the rapist is also a minor, then the case gets a little more complicated. And let there be no mistake, a married woman can be raped by her husband if she is made to have sex against her will.