A 19-year-old teen who forfeited his personal freedom by breaching bail conditions to witness the birth of his baby daughter has been afforded “one final chance” after the court touched upon the humanitarian aspect of the case. 

The youth had been arraigned in June after being reported to the police for having an intimate relationship with his 14-year-old girlfriend, who was expecting his child.  

Under Maltese law, the age of consent was lowered from 18 to 16 in 2018.

The father-to-be had pleaded not guilty to defiling the minor and was granted bail under strict orders prohibiting any contact between him and his victim.

Yet, few weeks later, the accused turned up at Mater Dei Hospital to witness the birth of his child, staying on with his girlfriend for a few hours. 

His presence there was soon flagged to the police who moved in to arrest the youth, escorting him back to court for breaching court orders. 

In spite of his lawyer’s pleas to spare the teenage father his personal freedom, he was remanded in custody, the prosecution standing firm by its argument that a court order had clearly been breached. 

A fresh application for bail was subsequently filed before the criminal court.

In a decree delivered on Friday, Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja stressed the need for the applicant to understand that any orders laid down by the court were to be followed “religiously”.

Bail conditions, including a protection order barring the teen from approaching his girlfriend and her mother, had to be observed “word by word, in a scrupulous manner,” said the court.

There must have been “serious reasons” behind such conditions and the accused could not simply choose to ignore them or do so at someone else’s suggestion, Mr Justice Bugeja added. 

Unless the accused put forward a formal request to vary any condition, supporting his request with valid and sound arguments, then he was “bound to abide by those orders to the letter”.

However, after having weighed every aspect of the case, even from a humanitarian point of view, the court stated that it was willing to afford the applicant “one final chance” while warning him about the consequences of any future breach. 

Bail was granted under the strict condition of not approaching or contacting the minor or her mother in any manner, against a deposit of €1,000, a personal guarantee of €9,000 and the signing of the bail book twice a week. 

Lawyer Mario Mifsud assisted the applicant.