A man was today ordered to pay almost €83,000 in damages to his daughter after being found guilty of neglect and psychological cruelty by a Gozo court.

The woman filed a case against her father in 2008, seeking damages for the permanent psychological damage caused by her father's cruelty and neglect. She also claimed that her father had failed in his legal obligations towards her to maintain and support her.

The ma denied the allegations and claimed that his daughter was being manipulated by her mother - his ex-wife.

The daughter told Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri how her father was lazy, abusive and violent towards her as well as towards her mother and siblings. She said her father had destroyed her self-esteem and, as a result, she did not do well in school. She was still trying to get her O level when she was 20-years-old.

The woman's testimony was confirmed by her mother and a former teacher, who said that the daughter showed signs of anxiety at school.

A court-appointed psychologist also testified that the father had no parenting skills, was not amenable to persuasion, and was suspicious. These symptoms fell within the criteria of Paranoid Personality Disorder.

People with this condition, he said, could have a negative effect on their children, harming their self-awareness.

The court-appointed experts said the daughter had recalled being taunted by her father for being overweight and had even made up a rhyme comparing her to a pig, which he used to sing to her up to four times a day.

She also said that, when her younger sister was born, the father used to threaten to lock them on the roof without food and that he would take her toys away.

The court-appointed experts said the woman had been emotionally abused by her father and her level of psychiatric and psychological disability was calculated to be 8%.

The Magistrate upheld the daughter's claims and ordered her father to pay her €82,984 in damages.