Man charged with rape of nieces aged three, five

A 63-year-old Maltese man is facing at least 20 years in prison after he was accused of brutally defiling two of his nieces when the girls, at the time just three and five years old, had been entrusted to his care.

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja heard police inspector Joseph Busuttil explain how the man, who cannot be named due to his relationship with the victims, had been arrested after the girls' younger sister revealed to her family that he had shown her a pornographic movie. Sources say this prompted the sisters, now aged 13 and 15, to reveal to the authorities that the uncle had also allegedly abused them when they were very young.

The older girls are understood to have claimed that the accused had repeatedly sodomised them – one of the girls was abused over a two-year period – against their will, while they had been entrusted to his care. It is also understood that arresting officers found a large amount of child pornography on the man's personal computer.

Lawyer Benjamin Valenzia, appointed as legal aid to the accused, told the magistrate that the accused would be pleading not guilty to charges of rape, participating in sexual activities with minors, producing or distributing and possession of child pornography, and corruption of the three minors who had been entrusted into his care.

No request for bail was made.