Ex-religious member guilty of sex abuse loses human rights case

A former member of the Franciscan religious order facing four years in jail for having sexually abused a 13-year-old girl entrusted in his care has lost a human rights case he filed when he was not allowed to file new evidence on appeal.

The man, who is now married with children, failed to convince a judge that a letter from his alleged victim, which he had found among papers at his mother’s house, was important evidence and that the law that precluded him from presenting it during the appeal was breaching his right to a fair trial.

Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff, presiding over the First Hall of the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction, ruled there was no justification to his argument that he suffered a serious breach of his rights because he was disallowed to present the letter as evidence.

He said there were different witnesses and other evidence that corroborated the victim’s version of events and which led the magistrate to find guilt and hand down the prison sentence.

The man had been a member of the Order of Capuchin Franciscan Friars in 2010 when the alleged offences took place. He had been in charge of altar boys and girls, the children attending doctrine classes...