Two men plead not guilty to contacting underage girls for lewd photo sessions

● Interpol tips off local authorities after it found that a Maltese IP address was used to download child pornography images

A parents’ worst nightmare might have become a reality yesterday after two men were arraigned in court and accused of prowling Facebook in in search of underage girls in order to groom them for lewd and explicit photo shoots.

Michael Kingswell, 36 from Zebbug, was also charged with performing sexual acts with a 14year-old girl after allegedly luring her to take part in a photo shoot through Facebook.

The second man, being tried separately, was charged with contacting underage girls for explicit photo shoots only through interviews conducted with the victims of Mr Kingswell, the police said.

The girls he approached had already been posting suggestive pictures of themselves on Facebook, the police added. It was alleged in court that some of the lewd photo shoots had actually been carried out, however this remains unverified.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them.

Prosecuting Inspector Joseph Busuttil spoke of Mr Kingswell contacting underage girls (youngest age being 14) to take part in photo shoots by sending sexually provocative images of nude young people and suggesting a similar type of shoot. If/when the girls would decline, Inspector Busuttil said that Mr Kingswell would then suggest taking ordinary photographs.

Following police investigations, it was also revealed that Mr Kingswell would sometimes offer the underage girls a glass of wine during the photo shoots, presumably to ‘relax’ them.

Mr Kingswell’s defence lawyer Dr Arthur Azzopardi did request bail and Duty Magistrate Aaron Bugeja remanded him in custody.

Mr Rizzo is reportedly a civil servant and works as a part-time photographer. His defence lawyer, Dr Robert Montalto, objected to the used of the word “victims” when describing the underage girls on the basis that the photo shoots were allegedly consensual and that Mr Rizzo had admitted to taking them.

Magistrate Bugeja turned down a request for bail on the basis that Mr Rizzo could make contact with the victims and coach them on what to say.