Ministry denies police claims it refused care order for boy forced into sex by homophobic father

Social welfare minister Michael Farrugia vehemently denied turning down a request by Agenzija Appogg for a care order in the case of a seven-year-old boy allegedly forced into sex with prostitutes by his father, who feared the son was homosexual.

He was addressing a press conference called to clarify statements by police Inspector John Spiteri who, in a court sitting on Saturday, had claimed that Appogg had not wanted to issue a care order due to ministerial direction.

When asked why Spiteri would make such claims unless he knew them to be true, Farrugia said he was only responsible for his own statements.

Appogg CEO Alfred Grixti echoed the minister’s statement and denied the ministry was in any way involved.

He was critical of the police investigation in this case, and criticised the police for not having a social worker present when they interrogated the boy.

“This is a very sensitive case and the police behaviour was not up to par,” he said.

However, the PN dismissed Farrugia’s press conference as an “attack on the police force”.

“The inspector’s statement in court must be taken seriously,” Opposition MPs Robert Cutajar and Paula Mifsud Bonnici said in a joint statement. “The people don’t need a minister who attacks the police, but one who addresses the true challenges faced by families across the country.”

They urged on the government to stop interfering in the child welfare sector, echoing earlier calls by the National Foster Care Association and the Maltese Association of Social Workers.

The 60-year-old father was denied bail and remanded in custody, while the boy is now in social services’ hands after a care order was issued and countersigned by both parents.

During Saturday’s court sitting, Inspector Spiteri recounted how a prostitute who used to live with the accused had gone to the police and reported that he would take her to Marsa for prostitution, where he would wait in the car for her to service clients.

She revealed that he would also force her to have sex with the child and had wanted to involve the boy in group sex acts with the woman. The Inspector added that there had been times when the boy had not been able to obtain an erection and his father had shouted at him, calling him “pufta” and lashing his back with an electrical cord.

Appogg had taken the child into custody, but the inspector claimed that the agency had been unwilling to issue a care order because of a ministerial instruction not to issue any more care orders.

Farrugia strongly rebutted this claim, insisting that he has never ordered Appogg to go slow on care orders and that he had never heard about the case before it was reported in the press.

“As soon as I read about it, I instantly phoned up Alfred Grixti and requested all reports related to the case to ascertain the facts,” he said.

He hit out at the National Foster Care Association for having issued a statement that the minister was duty-bound to issue immediate care orders in cases of serious child abuse.

“The National Foster Care Association has their remit and they should not interfere in the work of professionals and pressure them to issue care orders,” he said.