The justice ministry is considering whether to amend a law that says a person can only be found guilty of sexual harassment in the workplace if the behaviour could be regarded as offensive, humiliating and intimidating. It follows a case in which a police officer was cleared of sexually harassing a 19-year-old recruit because the prosecution could not prove all three factors together. The teenage recruit had found the behaviour offensive and humiliating but she was not intimidated by it. Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera said she could, therefore, only find the man guilty of harassment and ordered that the justice minister be notified of her judgment and asked to make any necessary changes to the law. Justice Minister Jonathan Attard confirmed that, without going into the merits of the particular case, due to the fact that the appeal was still sub judice, his ministry was “currently analysing the sentence and examining studies on the subject matter and foreign jurisdictions’ legislation to be in a better position to put forward any necessary amendments”. “We want people, irrespective of their gender, to feel safe at work and that justice is done,” he said. The young police...
↧