A 47-year-old man from Zebbug today pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing one child aged 12 and four teenagers when they were between the ages of 13 and 16.

Christopher Dalli, a paper company employee, stands accused of forcing one teenager to participate in pornography and forcing the other four to be present during sexual activity. He is also accused of sexually abusing all five, grooming one teenager through electronic communications to coax him into meeting up, producing illicit material (the pornography) and being in possession of pornography showing children.

Police discovered about the accused’s alleged activities after they were made aware that he was sending explicit videos of himself to one of the minors. This led the authorities to discover that Dalli had been allegedly carrying out such activities with various minors over a period of six to seven years.

No request for bail was put forward by defence lawyer Peter Paul Zammit, however, he asked the court to recommend that the director of prisons oversee a psychiatric evaluation on the accused. Presiding magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech observed that the court could not usurp the functions of the director of prisons.

Zammit promptly commented that someone accused of paedophilia does not enter prison and leave on his own two feet.

The court ordered a ban on the publication of the names of the victims so as to avoid secondary victimisation.

Inspectors John Spiteri and Kylie Borg prosecuted.