A 74-year old paedophile who appeared to show no genuine remorse for the abuse of a 14-year-old boy entrusted into his care had his 10-year jail term confirmed on appeal.
Michael Charles Muscat, who appeared not to have learnt his lesson, following an earlier six-year jail term over similar wrongdoing, had appealed the judgment handed down by a Magistrates’ Court in October 2018, claiming that it was excessive.
The man had been accused of defiling the minor, engaging in sexual acts with him and producing indecent drawings of the boy, thereby, according to the first court presided over by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, “irreparably corrupting the innocence of the child leaving him scarred for life".
At the appeal stage, his lawyer cited similar cases before the Maltese courts which had resulted in a lower punishment for the offender.
A pre-sentencing report, also requested by the man’s lawyer, eventually resulted in a recommendation by the probation officer to the effect that it would be in the best interests of the appellant and society at large, for the man to be kept within a “restricted environment under close psychological supervision”.
The officer reported that although the elderly man acknowledged his wrongdoing, he still failed to manifest any “genuine remorse,” stating several times that he “only regretted the fact that he was behind bars”.
Moreover, the man did not seem to have grasped the full implications of his acts upon the young victim, categorically refusing all help and therapy.
The man clearly had trouble controlling his emotional and sexual drive towards teenage boys, the probation officer reported.
The Court of Appeal, presided over by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, underlined a number of aggravating factors, including the 60-year age gap between the appellant and the victim, and the fact that the sexual abuse took place at the man’s home where the boy had been entrusted by his relatives.
Gifts for the boy were purposely used to groom his victim who ended up traumatised for life, the Court observed.
On the other hand, the appellant showed no sign of remorse and only seemed to be sorry for himself, the Court noted further.
“The appellant does not manifest an interest to overcome this perversion,” said Madam Justice Scerri Herrera, sensing “a real risk of having a repetition of such offences”.
Should the appellant truly intend to address his problem, he may “do so at the Corradino Correctional Facility where a psychologist’s help was available,” the Court declared, stressing that it had a duty to consider not merely the accused’s interests but also those of the victim and society.
The court confirmed the 10-year jail term, the three-year treatment order as well as the protection order in favour of the victim, whose name was banned from publication. The predator’s name is to be included in the sex offenders’ register.