Couple accused of abusing own children, released on bail after week in custody

A couple who were charged, last week, in connection with the sexual abuse of their young children have been released on bail.

The unnamed defendants: a 43-year-old deliveryman from Mtarfa and his wife, aged 42, were arraigned in court earlier this month.

The father was accused of corrupting the minors, sexually corrupting minors who were in his care, committing a non-consensual act of a sexual nature on his daughters and subjecting them to unwanted acts of physical intimacy. 

His wife was charged with cruelty and mistreatment, as well as with preventing the children from giving information or evidence required in court proceedings, to the authorities.

Both defendants deny the charges. 

The compilation of evidence against the couple, whose names are subject to a court-imposed publication ban, is being heard by Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, who ordered that the evidence be heard in a closed sitting.

During the couple’s arraignment, it had emerged that the alleged mistreatment came to light when the youngest daughter had confided in her friend’s mother during a sleepover. The friend’s mother had reported the matter to the police. 

She had accompanied the girl to the Rabat police station to file the report, during the taking down of which, the child had told the police that her sister had also been abused, but had been warned by her mother to keep it secret.

The defendants, who had initially been represented by legal aid counsel, subsequently engaged lawyer Roberto Montalto to defend them. 

In a bail decree handed down yesterday, the mother was released from arrest against a personal guarantee of €5000 and ordered to sign a bail book once a week. 

The father was also granted bail, which was secured by an €800 deposit and a €15,000 personal guarantee. He is required to sign a bail book three times every week. 

Both parents were also ordered not to approach or attempt to communicate with their daughters or other witnesses.

Police inspectors Godwin Scerri and Wayne Buhagiar are prosecuting, with the assistance of prosecutor Darlene Grima in the case against the father.