A 36-year-old father was yesterday charged with sexually abusing his two young daughters at home.

Through his lawyer, Edward Gatt, the man, who is not being named to protect his daughters, rejected the allegations being made by the prosecution in what he defined as very delicate case. The girls are aged 10 and 11.

The prosecution was alleging that he had touched the girls intimately, which was not the case, Dr Gatt insisted. There were instances when he might have walked in on them while they were in the bathroom but that was not sexual abuse and there was definitely not any intention to do so, the defence counsel added.

His client was going through a particularly bad time as he was expecting a child from a woman with whom he had an affair.

Magistrate Antonio Vella granted the accused bail against a deposit of €5,000 and a personal guarantee of €10,000. The court also placed the girls under a protection order.

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