Updated 8.08pm with details

A woman whose family was allegedly repeatedly abused by a man who tricked them by pretending to voice a “demon” on Monday described how she, her mother and her sister were ordered to strip naked and carry out sexual acts by the demonic ‘voice’. 

The now-24-year-old woman testified at length via videoconference on Monday afternoon, recalling how the incidents began in February 2019.

Her sister and parents had started saying that they were hearing voices at home, she testified, while her mother always seemed “physically weak” and once had a black eye. 

She had once heard a voice tell her mother “don’t smoke”, she testified, and remarked that it sounded like her sister’s boyfriend trying to make a “scary voice.” 

But her mother dispelled that thought, insisting it was “the demon”. 

The witness said that she was unable to leave her mother’s home, as the front door was locked and the keys were missing. The ‘voice’ then returned, commanding her to sleep there or else her grandparents would be killed. 

That order set in motion a series of events which forced the witness to stay at the house right up to the day when finally, accompanied by two social workers, she turned up at the local police station to file a report. 

Police eventually charged her sister’s boyfriend in connection with the incident. The man, who was 18 years old at the time, is alleged to have raped his girlfriend’s mother, held the family hostage in its own home, forced them to engage in sexual acts and slightly injuring them. 

His trial began on Monday, presided over by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera but without a panel of jurors, at the defence's request. 

Accused 'shook' when officers arrived for search

An inspector who took the witness stand on Monday morning spoke of finding a burning cross on a bathroom door, broomsticks used to perform sexual acts and three dogs bought on orders from the devil when officers searched the house. Defence lawyer Mario Mifsud added that nuns’ garments were found in a wardrobe. 

When officers showed up at the house, the accused had started shaking and claiming that the devil was in there. The house appeared neglected when searched, though the accused’s room had been cleared out.

Incidents of sexual and mental abuse

In her testimony, the 24-year-old ran the court through episode after episode in which she and her female relatives were allegedly ordered to clean the house, strip naked and shower together or perform sexual acts by the ‘voice’ which they initially attributed to “a spirit.” The two sisters heard the sound of sharpening of knives outside their locked bedroom door on the first evening after the circuit breaker went off, pitching the house in darkness. 

The voice menacingly ordered her to open the door, telling her to count to three and on the last count he would “slit her throat” telling her that “her time was up.”

The voice threatened to “cut her soles” and “burst her sister’s eyes” besides inflicting regular beatings on all three women with a leather stick “for any reason.”

That voice would also order the women and the accused, who at the time used to live at his girlfriend’s home, to lie face down on their beds, heads tucked under a pillow, while blows were inflicted over their bodies. 

The accused would also yell in pain. 

But the witness said that one day, during such an episode, she had peeped out from beneath her pillow and seen the accused’s silhouette striking the wall with a leather stick and crying out, pretending to be in pain.

Her mother fared worst, her body left covered with markings so badly that it “looked purple.”

Another time, the ‘demon’ ordered her to invite her boyfriend over to the house to have sex.

The same voice had also allegedly ordered the sisters’ father to move out of the house and live with his parents instead. 

One December evening, she and her mother were ordered to perform sexual acts on each other and then told to lie all naked, face down on the floor reciting the act of contrition, before they were suddenly showered in cold water and later ordered to sleep with the fan on. 

A dawning realisation

But eventually, the witness began to realize that the ‘voice’ appeared to come from the accused who would usually be facing the other way or covering his mouth. 

“I once could see his reflection in the mirror and saw his lips moving,” said the woman, adding that “whenever he was not around, nothing happened.”

The ‘voice’ also did not speak in English and spoke in the accused’s style, went on the witness, giving her testimony in English. 

“Everyone believed him. But after a few weeks I started adding things up. It could not be supernatural.”

Porn films with a similar plot 

The defence noted that a laptop in the kitchen that was accessible to anyone in the house contained two pornographic films that seemed to present the same events as described by the witness.  

Cross-examined on that point, the witness told the court that while she had access to the laptop she denied “100%” watching the ‘Nude for Satan’ videos and other pornography on that device, including a video which appeared to feature a scene like the one she had just recounted. 

She also confirmed suspicions that her mother had a relationship with a man who appeared to visit her home regularly and had once kicked up a commotion that brought police rushing to the place when he cut himself with a blade outside the front door. 

When she suspected that her mother was pregnant, she had allegedly messaged her sister saying that they “could not afford a baby,” so “might as well kill it….The spirit would kill it anyway.”

Answering a question by the defence, the woman said that she did not recall her sister suggesting that she beat their mother with a rope. 

The defence sought to poke holes in the victim’s version, questioning why she had never recorded the alleged happenings, taken pictures of her injuries or urged her mother to seek help. 

“She too found it weird but was convinced that the demon was attached to the accused,” said the witness, explaining that her mother was very vulnerable, had dabbled in the occult since she and her sister were young and also visited a male fortune teller whose name the witness could not recall. 

The court issued a media ban on the names of both the accused as well as the alleged victims. 

The trial presided by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera continues on Tuesday. 

AG lawyers Angele Vella and Francesco Refalo are prosecuting. Lawyer Mario Mifsud is defence counsel.