MALTA
Times of Malta
May 18, 2016, 07:15 by Kim Dalli
A child abuse victim is calling for sex crimes against minors not to be time-barred and for the prescription period to come into effect, at minimum, when the abused party turns 18.
Christina, 21, opened up to this newspaper in an effort to get policymakers to rethink the statute of limitations for the sexual abuse of minors.
As the law stands, the defilement of minors is time-barred after five years, meaning no criminal action can be taken if the case is reported more than five years after it took place. The rape of minors is time-barred after 15 years.
For cases of participation in sexual activity with a minor, as opposed to forced sexual activity – for example, intercourse for which the minor gave his or her ‘consent’ – the 10-year prescription period is suspended until the victim turns 18.
Ready to go by her first name but still hesitant to show her face and full identity due to the psychological trauma she has suffered, Christina explains that, as a child, she could not quite understand what was being done to her, although she instinctively felt it was “wrong”.
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