Two get suspended sentence after pleading guilty to child porn possession

Three of the seven men charged with child pornography offences earlier this week have been sentenced after admitting the charges against them.

Police Inspectors John Spiteri, Joseph Busuttil and Justine Grech had arraigned the men, two of whom admitted the charges straightaway, on Tuesday.

In the three days since their arraignment, three more of the accused have pleaded guilty. The Filipino man accused of disseminating a horrific baby-rape video was amongst them. He received a 2-year prison sentence, suspended for four years for this crime.

Two Maltese men also admitted to the crime. One was placed on probation for three years and ordered to receive psychological treatment, while the other man required a pre-sentencing report to be drawn up. He has been granted bail until the report is completed, against an €800 deposit and a personal guarantee of €3,000.

Lawyer Ludwig Caruana and Janice Borg appearing for a Syrian man, who is amongst the accused, repeated their request for bail this morning but this request was once again turned down.

The men, all of whom cannot be named on the orders of the court, come from diverse backgrounds: a bank employee, another a chef, two students and an interior decorator were among the persons charged.

The investigation was started by a tip-off from Interpol, who had identified several individuals, amongst them the accused, who would frequent child pornography sites.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli is presiding the remaining proceedings.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Veronique Dalli, Dean Hili, Ludwig Caruana and Janice Borg separately represented the accused men, who were charged individually.