73-year-old paedophile rapist jailed for sharing indecent images of children

Paedophile and convicted rapist Anthony Pandolfino has been jailed for five years today after pleading guilty to charges of possessing, producing or circulating indecent images of children.

The 73-year-old accused, white haired and bearded, stood with his hands clasped before him in the dock as he was charged with producing and distributing indecent images of underage persons, circulating pornography, knowingly using a computer to obtain access to indecent material depicting persons who are underage.

This morning, police exhibited hard disks, cameras and other electronics seized from the accused, in court. Investigators say terabytes of indecent images were found. Police are still combing through the hard drives to establish whether any of the children depicted are Maltese.

Inspector Joseph Busuttil told magistrate Monica Vella that the accused had previously been jailed for 10 years on similar charges. In fact, Pandolfino had been convicted, together with his brother, of raping two boys aged 10 and 11 in 2006.

Pandolfino would share images with other paedophiles, he said. Aside from collecting images, he would distribute content he made with “persons with the same interests, for want of a better word.”

Officers told the MaltaToday that the accused would also photograph children getting changed at the beach and go to public events to photograph children in the crowd and then share the images on the internet.

Lawyer Christopher Chircop entered a guilty plea on behalf of the accused. Magistrate Monica Vella told the man that he would go to prison if found guilty. “I downloaded the stuff and there's no...” Pandolfino began before trailing off. He acknowledged that he stood to go to prison if he admitted.

Pandolfino advised the court that he was due to undergo surgery next week. The court upheld the defence's request that the man be held at Mount Carmel Hospital's forensic unit until he recuperates from the unspecified operation.

Inspector Busuttil asked that the court order the addition of the man's name to the sex offender register pointing out that, when Pandolfino had been convicted of raping the two boys, this register did not exist. That request was also upheld.

Pandolfino was jailed for five years and ordered to pay a €3,000 fine, also being placed under a treatment order.

The defence gave notice of appeal. No bail request was made.