Traumatised woman secretly filmed having sex when still underage wins compensation

Four men who surreptitiously filmed an underage girl having sex in a Luqa garage have been ordered to pay the victim almost €33,000 in compensation.

The judgment attributes guilt to all the four men involved in the production of the footage and its distribution to DVD shops.

The First Hall of the Civil Court had last year ordered two of the men to pay nearly €33,000 in compensation but the Appeals Court decided that the two men cleared at first instance were equally responsible for the severe trauma the illicit video had on its victim. 

The Appeals Court presided by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti and judges Joseph R. Micallef and Tonio Mallia said the men must pay compensation for the psychological trauma suffered by the woman.

The girl did not know she was being filmed and the DVD of the sexual act ended up being sold in DVD shops and then sent to her mother attached to an anonymous letter. The girl suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.

The incident happened in 2006 when the girl was in a relationship with one of the four men. As she was having sex with him in a Luqa garage, another man was hiding behind a curtain filmed the entire episode.

The footage was circulated via a DVD store run by one of the other men, who had in turn acquired it from the fourth man, the boyfriend’s cousin.

A copy ended up in the possession of the girl’s mother and a copy was also sent to a man whom the girl had started dating.

The police were called in to investigate and charges were filed against the four men, who pleaded not guilty to producing and circulating the indecent material.

Her boyfriend at the time claimed the woman knew the sex act was being filmed while the others claimed they did not know the film was shot secretly. The court rubbished the boyfriend’s claim.

An assessment of the victim certified that she had suffered 30% psychological disability although a more recent examination by a court-appointed expert concluded that the permanent damage caused was 6% disability.

The court noted that the different conclusions were explained as being the effect of the passage of time, as well as the daily medication the woman was taking to deal with her post-traumatic stress disorder.

The woman had since established a stable relationship, embraced motherhood and had also taken up a regular job, the court observed.

According to one of the psychiatrists who examined her, the woman was depressed and stayed indoors so as not to face people since she started to believe that people in the street were talking about her and mocking her.

The original judgment was appealed by all parties, with the woman expecting higher compensation for the trauma.

The judges ruled that all four men had contributed to the trauma caused when the DVD was circulated. None of them could deny the link between the action committed and the harm suffered by the woman, the court said.

The judges, however, turned down the woman’s request for the compensation to be based on the 30% disability assessment.

They ordered that all four men pay equal parts of the €32,656 compensation for personal and psychological damage caused to the victim of their criminal wrongdoing.

Lawyers Veronique Dalli and Andrew Saliba assisted the woman.