Man found not guilty of subjecting daughter to non-consensual sexual acts

A man has been cleared of subjecting his daughter to non-consensual acts of a sexual nature after a court found that the evidence put forward was lacking in sufficiency and consistency.

The individual was found not guilty of the charges which had been brought against him after his daughter filed a police report claiming that she had been inappropriately touched by her father on two separate occasions within the span of four days.

During proceedings, the court heard various witnesses including family members, the daughter and the defendant. Indeed, the court noted that with regard to the first incident which had been reported, various divergences emanated from the versions provided by the complainant daughter of the same event.

Moreover, it was considered that the testimony provided by both the daughter and father with regard to the second incident of alleged misconduct conflicted. At this juncture, reference was made to the testimony provided by the defendant, who categorically denied subjecting his daughter to sexual acts. It was noted that the defendant provided the same version of events throughout.

Witness testimony provided by the defendant’s two sons was also taken into consideration. Indeed, they had had testified that notwithstanding the fact that they used to sleep in the same bedroom as their sister, they never ‘saw anything bad take place’. They did not believe, moreover, that their father had committed the offences with which he was charged.

The court also took cognisance of the fact that during the same period of time within which the report had been lodged, the defendant and his wife (the daughter’s mother) were continuously arguing.

A further consideration taken into account by the court was that the defendant had received a suggestion to the effect that he transfers his share in the matrimonial home to his children, with the case being dropped in exchange. Defence lawyers in fact submitted that the perseverance of the parte civile in continuing the case was the result of pressure made by her mother so that she could hog the matrimonial home.

It was noted by the court that the prosecution failed to put forward certain evidence which could corroborate the version of the daughter. Indeed, it was maintained that the prosecution failed to determine whether there were DNA traces on the alleged victim’s clothes.

The court additionally held that it found it very difficult to believe that the defendant would molest his daughter in broad daylight and in the presence of his other two children, who had attested to his exemplary character on oath.

Thus, after considering the differing versions of events provided by the complainant and the defendant, the court held that it could not rely on the version put forward by the parte civile to find the defendant guilty.

The defendant was thus acquitted.

Lawyers Matthew Xuereb, Alex Scerri Herrera and Larry Formosa represented the defendant.