Defence lawyers yesterday ripped into the arguments made by the Attorney General during an angry, final plea in the appeal of two priests convicted of child abuse.

Lawyers Giannella de Marco and Joseph Giglio lashed out at what they labelled a “vulgarly” worded appeal, the likes of which they said they had never seen before.

Dr de Marco felt hurt by the fact that the Attorney General had used legal “tricks” against defrocked priests Godwin Scerri, 75, and Carmelo Pulis, 66.

They were sentenced to five years and six years in prison respectively last year after being found guilty of defiling teenage boys about 20 years ago at two homes belonging to the Missionary Society of St Paul.

“The first court could never have legitimately and reasonably reached a guilty verdict,” Dr de Marco said, adding that the discrepancies in the victims’ testimony were completely ignored by the magistrate.

She accused the first victim to go public with the abuse claims – Lawrence Grech – of being a liar and orchestrating the whole affair for money.

The lawyer used the testimony of TV presenter Lou Bondí to sustain her point, noting that Mr Bondí – who had helped the victims bring the abuse to light – had written on his personal blog that Mr Grech had lied about him in five instances.

Mr Grech had also lied and had been charged with making a false report involving insurance fraud, Dr de Marco said.

The victims met at Mr Grech’s house every night before they had to appear in court, which was very suspicious and pointed to the fact that stories the victims were telling had been made up by Mr Grech, she said.

She also referred to a video in which Mr Grech was seen stripping naked a 12-year-old boy during a party in the presence of his wife and young daughter. This, the lawyer noted, was in sharp contrast with his claim that the abuse had scarred him so deeply that he did not kiss his daughter for fear of abusing her.

The boy, who was “bullied” and who was stripped in the video, also made allegations against the priests but only after coming into contact with Mr Grech, she pointed out.

He has lived trouble-free at the institute for 10 years with not so much as even a rumour suggesting that there was abuse but, shortly after the video was taken and the boy had gone to Mr Grech’s house, the claims surfaced, Dr de Marco said.

She said lawyer Philip Galea Farrugia, from the Attorney General’s Office, had previously likened the video to something that happened at a bachelor’s party.

“I don’t know about the Attorney General’s inclinations but at what bachelor’s party do grown men strip naked a 12-year-old boy?” she asked.

The boy, now a man, had lied and should be held accountable after giving many different versions. Not one witness was brought to corroborate his version or any other versions of the victims, for that matter, Dr de Marco said.

Of all the people who entered the institute – teachers, social workers, helpers and other priests – none of them spoke of any abuse and neither had the children reported anything.

She noted that the victims had invited the priests to the most important events in their lives.

The Attorney General had attributed this to the so-called Stockholm Syndrome, a condition that afflicts hostages or abuse victims who start displaying empathy and positive feelings towards their abusers.

“Give me a break, Stockholm Syndrome, my foot,” Dr de Marco exclaimed, arguing that the condition referred to cases where the victims were captive and almost completely under the control of their captors and not, as was the case of the St Joseph Home boys, free men who made their allegations well after they had left the institute and built a life for themselves. Dr Giglio pointed out that no evidence was ever produced to prove that they suffered from Stockholm Syndrome.

The court, he said, should stick purely to the evidence produced.

In her final submissions, lawyer Elaine Rizzo, from the Attorney General’s Office, argued that justice had to be done not0 only for the victims but for society and the institute itself.

She flatly denied that Mr Grech had in any way organised the victims to lie and seek compensation, adding that it was only after Mr Grech had appeared on Mr Bondí’s programme that the other victims came forward, making Mr Grech “absolutely credible”.

The judiciary could not be seen to be operating in a vacuum and, although popular opinion should not influence a judge, justice had to be done for society, Dr Rizzo pleaded.

Mr Justice David Scicluna put the case off for judgement on October 26.