MALTA
Times of Malta
A mistake in a charge sheet which led to a defrocked priest being cleared of rape was at the centre of an appeal yesterday as legal arguments were exchanged over the error.
The mistake had emerged during the proceedings against three priests, which were held behind closed doors. A victim testified he had been raped at the St Joseph Home in Ħamrun when the charge gave the location of the crime as having been a home in Marfa.
The former priest, Francesco Scerri, also known as Godwin, was convicted of abusing boys about 20 years ago and jailed for five years, while a second former priest, Carmel Pulis, received a six-year jail sentence for also abusing boys. A third member of the same Order, Brother Joseph Bonnett, who had been facing the same charges, passed away last January, aged 63, during the proceedings.
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