A man was cleared of filing a false report alleging his son was being abused at football practice after a court ruled insufficient evidence had been presented to support to charge.

The court heard that the man had spoken to Superintendent Peter Paul Zammit in confidence. He had voiced his concern that his son was being abused by a man while at a football nursery.

The man had told the superintendent that his son’s alleged abuser had sent him a text message saying: “I love you.” The alleged abuser was eventually investigated and charged with crimes related to breach of the Data Protection Act after he was found in possession of photographs of minors.

However, the court noted that the investigation of the alleged abuser was not incited by a report the boy’s father filed. In fact, none of the witnesses claimed he ever filed a report on the matter.

In view of this, presiding magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled insufficient evidence had been presented and acquitted the man of filing a false report.

Inspector Anthony Cassar prosecuted.