MALTA
Times of Malta
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 by
Waylon Johnston
The magistrate who convicted two priests of child abuse was yesterday accused of having been selective in his appreciation of evidence by trying to discredit the men and making sure they were found guilty.
Defence lawyer Joseph Giglio questioned how Magistrate Saviour Demicoli could be morally convinced of the men’s guilt when the victims were contradictory and inconsistent in their testimony.
On the other hand, the lawyer from the Attorney General’s Office, Phillip Galea Farrugia, said that it was precisely the discrepancies that made the victims so believable.
The 11 boys had been subjected to abuse every day, 18 years before they testified, so it was obvious that they could not remember every single detail but rather the substance of what they were put through, Dr Galea Farrugia said.
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