Updated 2.20pm
A court on Thursday cleared Mosta priest Fr David Muscat of hate speech charges after finding that there was no malicious intent on his part.
Muscat was arraigned in January and accused of incitement to hatred or violence over comments about homosexuality.
The charges followed two Facebook posts.
In one, the 51-year-old spoke about the possibility that Abner Aquilina, who is accused of the murder of Polish student Paulina Dembska, was gay, bisexual or possessed by the devil and said that “gayness” was worse than being possessed.
In another comment, posted underneath a photo showing Aquilina wearing a colourful shirt, Muscat said that he looked like he was just coming back from "gay pride".
The outspoken Mosta priest was later issued a formal warning from Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who instructed him to stop making "inflammatory and hurtful comments" or else he could be stopped from exercising his ministry in public.
In its judgment on Thursday, the court, presided over by Magistrate Ian Farrugia acquitted Muscat, saying that the intentional element was “totally lacking”.
Going straight to the crux of the issue, the court explained that the more he read Muscat’s post in the light of the relative provision of law, the more it was convinced that the accused was “expressing an opinion”.
No matter how harsh, ridiculous, wrong, humiliating even for the author himself, extreme, unfounded and potentially insulting, it surely could not be deemed to incite hatred or violence, nor could it probably do so.
Certainly, such a comment would be expected to trigger varying reactions, including expressions of condemnation and dislike which were all legitimate.
“Many expected better [behaviour] by a priest and they were right,” went on the court.
Such a comment, especially coming from a priest, showed a serious lack of respect towards a particular person or group whom Fr Muscat identified as having "a gay disorder".
Yet, although his words were indecent, they did not amount to hatred or violence or a probability thereof.
In light of all this, the prosecution failed to prove its case.
Meanwhile, in comments to Times of Malta, Fr Muscat’s lawyers said that they wholeheartedly believed in his innocence from their very first meeting with him.
“Unfortunately, the comment in question was taken completely out of context and many had already incriminated him and unjustly tarnished his reputation. We worked hard in silence. Today’s judgment is our resounding reply. Justice has been served.”
Lawyers Mariah Mula and Christopher Attard represented Muscat.