Father jailed for abusing daughter, 15

A 49-year-old man from Cospicua was this morning jailed six years after he was found guilty of violently and indecently assaulting his 15-year-old daughter. The incidents started in 2003 and took place over a number of years. The court heard that the girl’s parents were separated and the girl used to go to see her father despite a court order for him not to see her. She described to the court how he showed her pornographic films, touched her intimately and on one occasion started to undress her. The girl’s mother testified that the girl had once ended up in a shelter because her father had given her lots of alcohol to drink and had to be taken to hospital. The girl said she loved the accused as her father but did not want to have anything to do with him because of what happened. She said that she always asked him not to do anything to her and he always promised nothing would happen. He used to tell her not to tell anything to anyone because he would get in trouble. Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said that after considering the seriousness of the crime and the fact that he had violated a court order, she believed she should impose a prison term that was close to the maximum allowed by...