The police are investigating allegations by a woman who claims that a soldier harassed her by sending sexually explicit videos and pictures of himself while on premises belonging to the Armed Forces of Malta and wearing a military uniform.
The two were reportedly former partners and the woman claims that, after they broke up, he refused to leave her in peace, nagging her with calls and, on occasions, sending her sexually explicit images of himself.
The incidents happened early this year and, in February, the woman e-mailed the AFM to report the alleged harassment.
In a response to questions by Times of Malta, the AFM confirmed receiving the reports but refused to confirm whether it conducted internal investigations into the case. It said such investigations do not fall within its remit and that the incident should be reported to the police.
“Where the conduct complained about is possibly a criminal offence, such as alleged sexual harassment by an AFM member on a civilian, the complainant is directed towards the Police Force, which is not only the competent authority but in a better position to investigate such offence,” the AFM said.
Times of Malta has seen these e-mails and can confirm that, in its response, the AFM repeatedly urged the woman to file a police report “immediately”.
However, on November 14, a picture uploaded to the AFM Facebook page showing the soldier in full uniform during the Remembrance Day parade raised eyebrows and prompted questions on whether the AFM had, in fact, conducted internal investigations on the reports. The AFM did not confirm whether it took further action on the reports but implied that it did not, insisting that, in her report, the woman at no point identified or revealed the name of the soldier.
“Complainant communicated with AFM twice and on both occasions she did not identify the alleged soldier, neither in words nor through pictures.”
The AFM did not specify whether it asked the woman for more information about the alleged harassment, including for the name of the soldier in question.
It also said that the woman was recently convicted of other criminal offences in relation to the alleged offender and said this complaint could possibly be related.
Her lawyer, however, told Times of Malta that some of the proceedings were still pending.