MALTA
Malta Today
Matthew Agius 25 March 2015
The Dominican priest accused of sexually abusing a vulnerable woman has been cleared of criminal libel in a case filed by a male friend of his alleged victim, after a court held that the case had been filed almost two years too late.
Lawyer Edgar Bonnici Cachia had filed the case against Fr Charles Fenech, who is currently undergoing separate criminal proceedings for allegedly sexually abusing a 42-year-old Zabbar woman.
Bonnici Cachia had alleged that in February 2012, the priest had made the female victim inform the ecclesiastical authorities that she “had been forced to file her criminal complaint against the priest by Bonnici Cachia.”
The offending affidavit by the victim had been presented in court in March 2013 and Bonnici Cachia had personally filed his police complaint in May 2013. The criminal libel case had begun in July 2014.
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