Appeals Court goes soft on orchestra official guilty of sexual harassment

A suspended prison sentence handed down to an orchestra official who sexually harassed a female musician has been further reduced to a conditional discharge on appeal.

The 31-year-old Gozitan man, whose name cannot be published on a court order, had pleaded guilty to all charges last October.

The man, a senior official at the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, had been charged with harassing the victim, subjecting the woman to an unsolicited act of physical intimacy, subjecting her to unwanted sexual behaviour and misuse of telecommunications equipment.

He had reportedly sent the woman sexually-suggestive messages and would repeatedly touch her inappropriately, ignoring her requests that he stop. The abuse had lasted from May 2019 until September 2022. The victim, a classically trained musician, had eventually resigned from the Orchestra to avoid further contact with the man.

In view of the defendant’s guilty plea, the Court of Magistrates had sentenced the man to one year in prison, suspended for four years and imposed a five-year restraining order in favour of the victim.

But despite the non-custodial sentence, the man’s lawyers had appealed the judgment, arguing it was too harsh. 

In a judgment handed down on 27 April, the Court of Criminal Appeal, presided by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera confirmed the finding of guilt, but reduced the man’s punishment to a conditional discharge and a €500 fine.

The lesser punishment was imposed after the court upheld the argument that the misuse of telecommunications equipment was a means to an end for the harassment, and did not merit a separate charge. The court also noted that all of the involved parties had consented to a conditional discharge.

Controversy raged last year when the case first came to light, especially in view of the fact that the victim had to resign from the orchestra. Police eventually also charged the MPO chief Sigmund Mifsud and accused him of trying to obstruct justice and tamper with evidence in the sexual harassment case.

The case is ongoing and Mifsud denies the charges.