A Russian woman’s “indoctrination” of her children against her estranged husband led a court to convict her of fabricating a story alleging their six-year-old daughter was sexually abused by the man.

The woman, who lives in Gozo, was jailed for 13 months suspended for two years after being found guilty of concocting the story. The two are currently engaged in acrimonious separation proceedings.

The court heard an investigating police inspector explain how his interviews with the young girl and her brother revealed an element of “indoctrination” by the mother against their Gozitan father.

Neither the woman – whose name cannot be published by court order – nor the children, aged three and six, could find anything positive to say about their father.

The court heard how the woman filed a police report in March 2014 claiming that her ex-husband had sexually abused their daughter.

A month later, she released a signed declaration explaining how her daughter told her that her former husband had touched her inappropriately.

The complaint was investigated by Police Inspector Melvin Camilleri, who possesses a degree in investigative psychology.

He told the court how “alarm bells” began to ring during a two-hour interview with the woman at Police Headquarters.

He said she spent more time bad-mouthing her ex-husband than explaining what the child had told her.

When asked to say something positive about the man, she replied that “there was nothing positive to say”.

Inspector Camilleri explained how the interview he had conducted with the child in the presence of the mother seemed “rehearsed”.

“The girl immediately, as if rehearsed, said her father treated her badly and even that his family treated her in the same manner.” Then “out of the blue” she told police that her father had touched her inappropriately.

The girl immediately, as if rehearsed, said her father treated her badly and even that his family treated her in the same manner

Inspector Camilleri said that when asked for more details, the girl told them her father had “shaken her bottom”, but mimicked a “cuddling gesture”.

“That was one thing that set off my alarm bells and made me suspect that the child might have been instructed on what to say,” he said.

At one point the child turned to her mother, who was sitting inside the room and exchanged a few words in Russian. When asked to translate, the mother said the child had mentioned something related to pornography and how her father had “red pornographic eyes” when he touched her.

When pressed, the child admitted that it was her mother who had told her to make this allegation.

When questioned by the police, the father strongly denied all the claims, and said he had previously been taken to court because of allegations of child maltreatment.

He said a court-appointed counsellor had advised them to have a second child to save their relationship.

Inspector Camilleri pinned the children’s behaviour down to “indoctrination” and how, although the father is usually a hero for children that age, the man was “demonised” by his children.

He recommended that no criminal action be taken against the man and that the mother’s claims be investigated.

Magistrate Joe Mifsud ruled that the police had proved, beyond reasonable doubt, that the mother had falsely accused her ex-husband of a crime she knew had not taken place and sentenced her to 13 months in jail suspended for two years.

Jean Paul Grech, who represented the woman in court, has filed an appeal. Chris Said and Angele Formosa appeared for the man.