Editorial: Malta needs answers about rape

The sharp rise in rape cases reported to the police over the past decade raises urgent questions that Malta cannot ignore.

Police data shows that reported rapes almost tripled over the last 10 years, rising from 23 cases in 2015 to 60 in 2025. 

A total of 370 rapes were reported during that period, involving 343 female victims and 27 male victims. Most victims – 219 – were foreign nationals, while 151 were Maltese.

Rape is one of the most traumatic crimes imaginable: an act in which one person exerts control over another without consent, often leaving lifelong physical and psychological scars. Last year alone, at least 60 people – 52 women and eight men – reported experiencing that trauma.

And this is the tip of the iceberg.

Earlier this year, then home affairs minister Byron Camilleri acknowledged in parliament that many rapes are likely to go unreported because of social and cultural barriers. Women’s rights organisations have long made the same point.

If reported cases represent only the visible portion of a much larger problem, then the available data should be treated as the starting point for a deeper examination.

The numbers themselves raise a series of pressing questions: Who are the perpetrators? What relationship do they have with their victims? Where are these rapes taking place? What circumstances lead victims to report the crime – or to consider remaining silent? What support systems are available to them? Are cultural, societal or gender-related factors influencing both the prevalence of rape and the likelihood of reporting it?

One statistic stands out: the majority of reported victims are foreign women.

That demands closer scrutiny. Are certain nationalities, age groups or vulnerable communities disproportionately affected? Without robust research, policymakers are left to respond with assumptions rather than evidence.

The data also points to another important trend. Although women remain the overwhelming majority of victims, the number of men reporting rape increased. There were no reported male victims in 2015. The figures began climbing after 2020, reaching six in 2024 and eight in 2025.

Is this increase the result of greater awareness and a willingness among men to report sexual violence? Or does it reflect a rise in such offences? And are Malta’s support services adequately equipped to respond to male victims?

Equally important is: How many of these cases lead to prosecution? How many result in convictions? How long do proceedings take? Without answers to these questions, it is impossible to assess whether the criminal justice system is delivering justice to victims.

That question has taken on renewed urgency following a landmark court judgment this year. The case involved Emma Agius, who alleged she was raped by a care worker she had met while receiving treatment at Mount Carmel Hospital. A magisterial inquiry interpreted her silence during the alleged assault as consent, and the attorney general decided there were insufficient grounds to prosecute.

Mr Justice Mark Simiana overturned that decision, ruling that silence does not amount to consent. His judgment corrected a troubling interpretation of the law and ensured the case could proceed.

But it also raises another question: how many similar cases may have been dismissed on comparable grounds?

Times of Malta is awaiting data that may help answer that question. But it should not fall to journalists alone to piece together the national picture.

Malta needs comprehensive, evidence-based research into sexual violence – research that examines not only how many rapes are reported, but why they happen; who is most at risk; how victims are treated by the system; and whether justice is ultimately served. Only then can policymakers design responses that are informed by facts.