Fate of ‘wrongly accused’ man in Constitutional Court’s hands

It will be up to the Constitutional Court to decide whether a man who has been accused of defiling his own daughter is guilty or not.

The case will end up before the Constitutional Court next week after the daughter told the court that she had lied about what her father did to her. The girl’s mother is now being accused of perjury and as the instigator behind her daughter’s allegations.

Medical exams carried out on the girl found that she was still a virgin, despite claims that she had been sexually abused by the father for five years. The girl had withdrawn her allegation when the case was heard during the first court of appeals.

The man broke down in tears when Judge Laurence Quintano – who presided over the first appeals case that confirmed a two-year prison sentence – abstained on hearing the case again.

The man’s lawyer, Tonio Azzopardi, proceeded to file another request to the Court of Appeals requesting that his client is released from prison as soon as possible. However, the second judge – Antonio Mizzi – said he could not overrule a judgement given by the same court.

It will now be up to the Constitutional Court to decide the man’s fate, who will now face another weekend in prison.

The man has also pleaded the President of the Republic to annul the sentence.

The defence lawyer is arguing that the Appeals Court had not considered the daughter’s withdrawal as evidence that proved the man’s innocence and had shelved other evidence as well.

The father has a pending Constitutional case over an alleged breach of the right to fair hearing.

The prosecution had been challenged by the defence lawyer to investigate the mother and the daughter. The police investigation led to charges against the woman, accusing her of perjury and instigating her daughter against her father.

The woman yesterday pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody.

The daughter is expected to be charged with perjury too.

The man’s lawyer yesterday applied for his client’s immediate release, arguing a miscarriage of justice. Magistrate Aaron Bugeja however argued that the law did not provide for such situations and he could not supply what the legislator failed to provide for in the criminal court.