Priest sex abuse victims hurt by Health Minister’s testimony

In the letter, the victims mention a government minister who was one of the witnesses summoned by the legal defence of the priests charged with sexually abusing children. The children at the time were in the care of St Joseph’s Home.

According to newspaper Torċa, the government minister was Health Minister Joe Cassar. In the letter to Pope Benedict XVI, the alleged victims claim that “in Malta, church, political power and the judiciary are all one of the same thing ... so much so that even a minister is testifying in court in favour of the priests.”

The newspaper reports that Cassar had testified in Court as a psychiatrist, claiming that the priests were at some time under his care. Before becoming a Parliamentary Secretary, Cassar was a psychiatrist and a consultant at Mount Carmel Hospital.