A Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday rejected an application filed by a man who is trying to reverse a court decision to extradite him to California, where he is sought for charges of paedophilia and violent indecent assault on a 11-year-old girl.

Lewis Muscat, 56, who is a Maltese national, lived in California for 40 years and is wanted in the United States for allegedly abusing a number of underage children, including an 11-year-old girl whom he allegedly abused for three years. The girl is said to be his step-granddaughter.

On 4 August, the court ordered the extradition of Muscat who was to be kept in custody until it took place and informed him that he could not be extradited before the lapse of 15 days from its order and that he could appeal the from the decision allowing the extradition to the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Muscat had filed the appeal on 10 August 2006 requesting the court to “accede to and accept this appeal by cancelling, revoking and reversing the decisions of the Court of the Committal of 4 April 2006 and 4 August 2006 by means of which the Court of Committal ordered that the appellant be kept in custody in order to await his return and his extradition to the United States of America.”

In his appeal, Muscat had claimed that the offences for which he is being requested are not extraditable and that his plea of insanity at the time of the alleged offences is a bar to the extradition.

However, in handing down his judgement, Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano said that the charges for which Muscat is being sought in the US are extraditable and that the charges brought against him are crimes in Malta and in California.

Furthermore, he added, Mr Muscat’s plea of insanity is “manifestly frivolous” and pointed out that examining such plea “goes well beyond the function of a court in extradition proceedings”.

As a result, the court declared that there is no reason whatsoever for the previous court decisions to be revoked and ordered that Muscat be kept in custody to await his return to the US.

Dr Donatella Frendo Dimech appeared for the Attorney General.