Man awaiting trial for sexually abusing girl will have statement read to jurors

A man awaiting trial for sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl will have the statement he gave the police during his interrogation read out to jurors after a panel of three judges reversed a previous decision to have it deleted from the case file. The judges, presiding over the Court of Criminal Appeal, ruled that they could not determine at this stage whether the disclosure of the statement could potentially infringe Christoph Doll’s right to a fair hearing. Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti and judges Edwina Grima and Aaron Bugeja were ruling on an appeal filed by the attorney general who sought to reverse a decision by the Criminal Court which had declared as inadmissible the eight-page statement released by Doll to the police. The statement had been taken without the presence of a lawyer but after the accused had spoken to the lawyer of his choice – Giannella de Marco – as the law stood at the time. Doll stands accused of sexually abusing the 11-year-old family acquaintance in 2014 and 2015 when he was 31. He is also accused of participating in sexual activities with the girl, defiling her, misusing equipment to obtain indecent images of her and possession of child pornography. The...