Parents charged with defiling their two infant children, taking over 70 indecent images of them

A father and a mother have been arraigned separately in court, after being found in possession of over 70 photos and videos showing their children, aged just 3-and-a-half and 1-and-a-half years old, touching the 33-year-old father’s private parts, showering together with their parents and other nudity in a domestic setting.

The 34-year-old wife appeared in the dock, clutching two photos of her children.

Magistrate Josette Demicoli heard police Inspector Joseph Busuttil explain that the majority of the photos are of the father naked with the children.

The couple were charged with corruption of minors, and producing, possessing or distributing indecent images of children. The police inspector asked for a treatment order and protection order.

The husband and wife would take turns to shoot indecent photographs and videos of themselves with the children, Busuttil said. “These things cannot be allowed to happen in Malta in 2017,” remarked the inspector. 

The court was told that the couple had been planning to separate but are now reconciling.

Child protection agency Appogg had been alerted by the woman’s school after she had spoken to colleagues about the couple’s separation proceedings.

Addressing the court in Italian, the Romanian-born woman said she had recently started a job with a summer school as a child-care support worker for autistic children. Asked what she was pleading, the woman paused before almost sighing “non colpevole” - not guilty.

The Maltese father was also accused of causing the three-year-old son to live in fear of violence.

Lawyers Benjamin Valenzia, appearing for the father, and lawyer Cynthia Tomasuolo on behalf of the mother, both requested bail.

The prosecution objected to the parents’ release, citing the fact that colleagues were yet to testify, as was the person who developed the photographs and the children themselves.

“This is child porn that was not downloaded off the internet but taken by the accused of their own children,” stressed the inspector.

Valenzia argued that the children were currently being cared for by Appogg until further notice, so it is difficult for them to suborn the witnesses. The photographs were evidence in themselves and cannot be tampered with at this stage, he added.

Bail was denied. In view of the fact that the minors are the children of the accused, the court banned the publication of the names of the accused and the locality in which they reside.