Those who call for silence and no public discussion about what happened last week at Dingli Cliffs are missing the point that this is not just a private tragedy but a matter of public interest. And by that I do not mean curiosity, but real interest. The minute it became known that the two missing persons were not just a couple of teenagers on an escapade but a teacher and his pupil, society was galvanised. Most people have raised or are raising children, and will have sent them to school in the full expectation that they will be safe and not preyed upon by some teacher or other staff member.
Erin Tanti is unlikely to be a one off. Lisa Marie Zahra most certainly is not. The ages 13 to 16 are extremely difficult for both boys and girls, but particularly for girls at around 15, and the last thing they need then is some adult who will take advantage of the anger and resentment adolescents almost always feel towards their parents or carers at that age and insinuate himself into the breach he or she helps create. This is exactly why debate about the case is necessary, because the situation is probably more common than we think. What happened to Lisa Marie Zahra at the hands of a teacher who – police sources said – bought whisky and a large quantity of pain-killers and drove her to Dingli Cliffs at 4am after keeping her out all night, might well have happened to others, might well be about to happen to others. What is a private tragedy for the individuals themselves, and for their families, has served to bring a hidden, little-talked-about matter of much importance into the open.
That Erin Tanti was a teacher – I trust it is safe to use the past tense and that he will be banned from teaching in any capacity for life – and Miss Zahra was his pupil only serves to make the matter more horrific and to exacerbate the crimes of keeping a minor away from home without her parent’s consent, giving a minor alcohol and pills, and putting a minor’s life in manifest jeopardy. But there are similar situations in which an adult with bad intentions worms his way into a suggestible minor’s life, strengthening his position by hacking away at that minor’s relationship with his or her parents, doing so subtly or overtly, so that the minor comes to believe that it is this insidious and dangerous adult who truly loves and cares about her (or him).
The way Erin Tanti clearly played mind-games with a vulnerable 15-year-old is the same method used by dealers to get young girls and boys hooked on addictive and illegal drugs, the way charismatic pimps pull besotted girls into prostitution and even white slavery, the way young people get brainwashed into following cult leaders and joining sects, the way young women from nice, middle-class homes in Italy and Germany ended up murdering and kidnapping people with the Bader Meinhof and the Brigate Rosse in the 1970s.
Tanti deployed mind-games on the most vulnerable individuals available to him: 15-year-olds going through the usual bad patch 15-year-old girls go through, when everything looks black, parents are awful and life is a drama in which one’s ego stars until a couple of years go by and that corner is turned.
Never has it been more obvious that those who are raising children must be hyper-vigilant, striking a balance between allowing their children the freedom and privacy essential to their healthy development, and relentless suspicion. It can be confusing, but there are some guidelines which never change. Foremost among these is that any adult who takes an unduly close interest in a child or teenager who is not his own or closely related to him is automatically suspect. Adults who hang around teenagers because they want to, rather than because they have to through work, coaching or training, should be closely scrutinised by parents, too. Normal adults don’t want to hang around with 14 and 15-year-olds, and there is something wrong with an adult who does. Erin Tanti is an adult.
This is a horrid tragedy, and should make us truly aware of how people cannot be taken at face value, especially when children are put in their charge.
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