Updated January 12
There are 84 people on Malta’s sex offenders’ register, including two women, Times of Malta has learnt.
The register, administered by the court, included one person who was listed twice for separate offences.
The Protection of Minors (Registration) Act came into force in 2012, whereby names of people convicted of offences involving children can be listed on the register. Checking if someone features on the register is at the discretion of a judge.
Since its inception, there have been just under 3,500 applications from people or organisations asking to access the register.
Educators, employers and organisations responsible for children’s well-being who want to ensure that any member of staff who comes into contact with children in their care is not a predator must file an application before the First Hall of the Civil Court through a lawyer.
The application is also sent to the attorney general who has seven days to reply to the request. The application and reply are seen by a judge who appoints a hearing at which the parties make oral submissions detailing the names of the person or people they want to check and the reason why they want to check.
If permission is granted, the judge orders the court registrar to check the register for the supplied name or names and informs the applicants of the outcome of the search. This process could take several weeks, allowing the possibility for someone who is in contact with children to abuse of his or her position to satisfy their sexual whims.
Through a legal amendment introduced in 2017, voluntary organisations can check the register to ensure none of their employees feature on it without having to pay a €500 access fee, the Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations said.
There still is no effective system to ensure that the offender is removed from the position
Efforts to make the list more easily accessible are being undertaken by the Lisa Maria Foundation, which has long called for the register to be accessible online by any institution that employs people with a duty of care towards children and youth, including administration, cleaning and maintenance staff.
A spokesperson explained that there had been some progress made in that the Council for the Teaching Profession has to be provided with a record of criminal conviction by anyone applying for a teacher’s warrant.
This record is more comprehensive than the normal conduct certificate and can only be obtained by certain authorities, including the Council for the Teaching Profession, after the person concerned has given their consent to the police to release it.
“This development has helped ensure that anyone being awarded a teacher warrant has a clean conduct and this is a big step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough. All institutions that have a duty of care towards children still have to go through a long, arduous and costly process to check whether anyone they employ who does not require a teaching warrant is on the sex offenders register,” the spokesperson said.
He added that if an incident happens after someone is awarded a warrant, there still is no effective system to ensure that the offender is removed from the position.
He said the foundation was working with the justice minister to establish what changes can be made so institutions with a duty of care towards children can obtain immediate and free feedback about potential employees.
The foundation had previously recommended the development of an application whereby a simple ID card number search would result in immediate clearance or otherwise, ensuring speed, no cost, and full data protection for the people whose name is on the list.
One of the latest people to be included in the register was Franciscan priest, Donald Bellizzi, 50, who was convicted on appeal of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy who used to attend a special group for those who were keen on becoming priests.
He was jailed for three years.