MALTA
Malta Today
Daniel Mizzi 22 August 2014
A court in Gozo has upheld an appeal by the police to lift the ban on the name and identify of the Gozitan priest accused of defiling minors.
The priest has now been identified as being Fr Jesmond Gauci, of Xaghra. Sources told MaltaToday that the priest, who is in his early 40s, has been a priest for around 10 to 12 years and he was recently employed as a religion teacher at a boys’ secondary state school in Hamrun. Sources also said that the accused is known as Il-Papa.
Sources also said the priest was said to have been in the company of 15-year-old girls in a boat.
In its appeal filed on Tuesday, the police claimed that there should not be a ban on the publication of the name of the priest, arguing that the accused and the alleged victims are not relatives, and consequently, the decision to ban the former’s name is not justified.
“There is no reason why the court upheld the request to ban the publication of the names. There was no ban during other cases, and in addition, this case is nothing special,” police sources told MaltaToday.
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