Teen party organiser guilty of defilement

A young teen party organiser was yesterday given a second suspended jail term after he was pictured cupping the breast of a 14-year-old girl at one of his parties. Joel Caruana, 22, from Tarxien, had already been sentenced to a 10-month prison term in November 2010, suspended for two years, for engaging in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl. He runs the I Love Music party organising company. In yesterday’s sitting, Mr Caruana was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for four years, after he admitted defiling the 14-year-old, participating in sexual activities with her, offending public morals and committing the crime during the operative period of his first suspended jail term. The issue was flagged by The Times two years ago after photos uploaded to Facebook showed unsavoury interaction between men in their 20s and girls as young as 12 at one of Mr Caruana’s parties. They had sparked controversy particularly among parents in October 2011 because of the mix of adults and teens. The photos also showed groups of girls dancing in lingerie and mimicking erotic dancers. One of the girls, aged 15, claimed she had been paid €10 to dance. Following the newspaper’s reports, the...