Father jailed for defiling daughter

A 49-year-old man from Cospicua was jailed for six years after being found guilty of violently and indecently assaulting his 15-year-old daughter and defiling the minor.

The daughter's parents had been legally separated, and a court order precluded the father from seeing his daughter.

The court heard that since the age of 11, the daughter was touched and fondled by her father while she lay on his bed. These acts went on for two years: on other occasions, the father even used a vibrator on the minor, and made her watch pornographic films. The court heard that he even insisted that she scrub him in the shower, and that he repeatedly undressed her and performed oral sex to his daughter.

The girl finally reported her father to the police after confiding to a social worker. She had gone to her aunt's house after her father had made her drink whisky, and the following morning she found herself in the Fejda shelter for women.

In court, the girl said her father had warned her to keep quiet about what was happening. She said that she once loved her father, but now she despised him for what he did to her.

Taking the witness stand, the victim's mother explained that she became aware of the abuse after her daughter spent a week at Fejda when her father got her drunk. She stated that she did not know her former husband was meeting the minor until the daughter owed up.

The victim's elder sister claimed her father had called her to tell her he was going to end up in prison. Although her younger sibling never confided in her, the witness told the court how she had noticed her becoming nervous and constantly argued with everyone.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli held that the minor was trusting her father enough to visit him without informing the mother. "The seriousness of the crime and the father's betrayal of the girl's trust calls for an effective jail term close to the maximum allowed by law,"  the Magistrate said.

The man was jailed for six years. The court issued a ban on the publication of the name of the accused and the victim.