The jailing of a 12- and 13-year-old boy and girl is worrying and might become the norm, said Mid-Dlam Ghad-Dawl (MDD) president Fr Mark Montebello OP.

Speaking on the steps leading to the Law Courts in Valletta accompanied by members of Moviment Graffiti, Fr Montebello said neither Maltese Law nor Children’s Rights Convention prohibited such practices; however, both the convention and the UN held that children should be jailed “as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time”.

The courts did not try to use alternative measures offered by Maltese law, he said, adding that MDD was afraid that this mode of conduct might become the norm.

Fr Montebello said the two children could not be held at the YOURS facility at the Corradino Correctional Facility as they were too young. To this end, they were put into isolation and the boy, who is currently held in preventive custody, was later transferred to the Forensic Ward at Mount Carmel Hospital.

Quoting a report compiled by Defence for Children international, he said that solution did not lie in sending children to prison but in attacking the roots of their behaviour. While acknowledging that the two children in question were no walking saints, Fr Montebello said their prison term was likely to further deteriorate their behaviour and make them rebel further against society.

He thanked wards and nurses for taking care of the children, care which he said has come at great cost to the taxpayer.