Man, 26, has conviction for sexual abuse of 8-year-old autistic girl overturned on appeal
Court of Criminal Appeal frees man after finding insufficient evidence to convict him of sexually abusing an autistic girl
A man’s conviction for sexually abusing an autistic eight-year-old girl has been overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal after it was noted there had been insufficient evidence to convict him in the first place.
The 26-year-old man, whose name cannot be published due to a court order, had been sentenced to imprisonment for three years, last May. He had filed an appeal to the sentence.
In his appeal, the defendant’s lawyer, Michael Tanti Dougall argued that during the course of the compilation proceedings against him, the alleged victim had not testified in court. Neither had she testified before the expert appointed by the inquiring magistrate.
Police had started investigations after a report was filed by the Child Protection Services alleging the man had sexually abused the eight-year-old girl.
As part of the magisterial inquiry in the case, a psychiatrist had been appointed by the court to examine the girl and compile a report on his findings. However, as the case was being heard, it emerged that the report had been compiled by a different psychiatrist to that appointed by the magistrate. Neither did the psychiatrist testify to confirm the report, which he had effectively compiled without the court’s authorisation, noted the judge.
Madam Justice Edwina Grima ruled that the First Court could not adopt the report as its own as the court-appointed expert could not delegate his work to third persons, noting that neither had he told the court how he carried out the task entrusted to him.
The judge highlighted the fact that this report had greater importance to the prosecution’s case because the girl had not taken the witness stand owing to the state of her mental health. But the prosecution had also failed to summon the girl to testify using video conferencing facilities, whilst being assisted by professionals.
The Court of Appeal went on to state that the only version of events as experienced by the alleged victim, emerged from the testimony of social workers, who testified that the girl was on the autism spectrum and that this had limited her mental development and made her behaviour chaotic. She was incapable of normal social interactions due to her impulsivity, aggressiveness and over-familiarity with persons who she is not acquainted with, noted the judge.
The judge noted that the girl’s Learning Support Assistant had also testified, and had denied being told of the alleged abuse by the girl, whom she described as “hyper” and lacking an understanding of other persons’ personal space.
The accused’s parents had also testified that the abuse could not have taken place at their home, as had been alleged, due to its small size and the absence of internal doors at the time, noted the court.
In her decision on the case, the judge ruled that the court on its first instance had established guilt on the basis of evidence that could never have led to the level of confidence required to convict.
The youth’s statements to the police had been expunged from the proceedings, as it was ruled inadmissible.
In her decision on the appeal, Madam Justice Grima concluded there was insufficient evidence supporting the girl’s allegations, particularly in view of her mental health condition, which required a more profound examination of what she described and recounted.
The man’s conviction was overturned and he was acquitted.
Lawyers Michael Tanti Dougall and Ann Marie Cutajar were defence counsel