Women’s groups have greeted this week’s verdict on a gang rape case involving three 17-year-old boys and a 14-year old girl with outrage, with the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations adding its voice to ongoing debate over the ‘lenient’ sentence handed down.
Two of the young men were placed under probation for three years after admitting to raping a 14-year-old girl in Mosta in March last year. The third was placed under probation for two years after admitting that he had performed sexual acts with the girl. All three also admitted holding the girl against her will.
In passing judgement, the court considered that the three boys were underage at the time of the commission of the crime, their admission of guilt and that both the prosecution and defence had agreed that the rape had been an act of foolishness and an ‘achievement’. The media had quoted the phrase as an “att ta’ bluha ta' tlett guvintur minorenni li hasbu le qed jaghmlu xi bravata”.
Women’s groups, however, have taken quite another stance and have expressed outrage.
The MCWO yesterday noted the sentence with “disbelief”, commenting, that the “MCWO can understand that the role of the defence is to act on behalf of the accused. However, the role of the prosecution is to see that laws are not broken neither against the victim nor against society in general; and if they are, the accused are made to shoulder their responsibilities. It is indeed astonishing that both the prosecution and the defence agreed that raping a 14-year-old was an act of foolishness.
“How can we give such negative messages to members of our society, be they men or women, but more so men?
“All violence, not least violence against women, is an act of free will. Those boys committed a crime on a 14-year-old girl because they wanted to. Admittedly, their youth and clean records entitle them to a second chance. But not to the extent of playing down what they did as “an act of foolishness”.
“That, to say the least, is degrading, humiliating and horribly insensitive to the victim and to society in general.”
“The MCWO is duty bound to make its voice heard in order to continue to highlight the ugliness and non-acceptability of violence against women for the good of us all.”
Earlier this week, the Women's Study Group of the University of Malta expressed “overwhelming disappointment at the comments quoted by the media”.
The group said, “We understand that they were minors at the time of committing the crime, since they were 17 and therefore not yet 18 years of age, and it is not therefore the resultant lenient sentencing which causes us most dismay. The most shocking part of the short report was that “the court observed that ‘the prosecution and the defence agreed’ that this was just ‘att ta' bluha ta' tlett guvintur minorenni li hasbu li qed jaghmlu xi bravata’”.
“With this comment, the Courts of Malta are suggesting that this was just a bit of mischief that the boys got up to, nothing serious at all, boys will be boys and all that... All that was left for them to do was give them a pat on the back!
“It is these attitudes that continue to ensure that violence against women and girls remains alive and well among us. It is bad enough when Joe Blogs in the street spouts such misogyny, but when we hear it from the learned judiciary, the prosecuting police officer, and the defence attorney then the damage done is much, much greater.”