Man jailed after admitting to raping sons of woman who was fighting cancer

A man has been jailed after admitting to raping a woman’s sons while she was fighting cancer

Lawrence Micallef faced seven charges, including rape and sexual abuse of three people - two boys (who are brothers), one of whom was a minor, and one girl who was also a minor.

Back in 2009, the accused began a relationship with a woman who had two boys, whose names are not being published by court order. Micallef’s relationship with the woman lasted ten years, as until 2019, the court judgement reads.

The court heard that one of the boys was repeatedly sexually abused by the accused between the ages of 9 and 12. In one week, the abuse occurred nearly daily, so much so that the minor couldn’t count the number of times it had happened, the judgement reads. The accused would on occasion ask him to help him with something, for example cooking, and when the child would go near him, the accused would sexually abuse him, the charges read.

The abuse of the boy had started when he was 9 years old, the court heard. One time, when he had entered the kitchen in the home where he resided with his mother and big brother, he had found his older brother on his knees in a sexual act with the accused. Upon seeing this, the boy had ran away shocked. When the boy spoke to his older brother about the incident, his older brother had said that he (the older brother) couldn’t do anything about it, as the accused used to threaten him that if he spoke out, the accused would throw him off Għar Ħasan.

The young boy then confronted Micallef (the accused) and asked what his brother had been doing, and the accused told him that he would show him, and performed oral sex on the minor.

The abuse by Micallef continued for around three years, the charges read, until the boy was 12 years old in 2019.

This took place while Micallef was meant to be taking care of the minor while his mother would be recovering in bed, and was unable to go outside or walk due to numerous serious operations that she had undertaken during those years, even as she was being given chemotherapy for cancer, as amongst other health problems she had, the charges read. The charges read that the reason the minor never spoke to his mother about what he was experiencing, was due to the fact that the accused used to threaten him that if he told his mother, the accused would end up in jail, whereas he would end up in an institute and that his mother would end up in a grave, dying of worry.

The charges read that the woman’s younger son had told her in January 2019 that the accused had been sexually abusing him.

The charges read that the younger brother wasn’t the only one who was raped.

The accused was also charged with raping the young boy's older brother. The situation began in 2016 when he was 18 or 19 years old. He had gone to the accused to ask for advice on how he should get with a girl, as it was something that he didn’t have experience with. At that point, the charges read, the accused had revealed his genitals and told the youth to perform oral sex on him in order to show him how things are done. The charges read that the accused would use threats to stop the youth from speaking with his mother about what was happening, and that the accused had further threatened to throw him off from Għar Ħasan if he revealed what the accused was doing to him. The charges read that the youth had never revealed what happened to him to his mother because of the health problems she had at the time, aside from the accused’s threats. “Many a time the rape happened in the house where the youth used to live with his mother and brother, and where the accused spent a lot of time as the youth’s mother was not well”, the charges read.

This used to happen frequently, at times even every day.

The accused was also charged with sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl in 2018. It is not clear whether the girl is related to the two boys or not. The judgement reads that on an occasion the man had picked her up from school, since her mother couldn’t as she was in the hospital, and he had then parked somewhere. He had asked her if she wanted to do something adults do, to which she had said no, the accusations read. The accused had then asked her to drop her tracksuit trousers that she was wearing. It read that they were in a secluded location on their own, and she had obeyed as she felt that she had no choice, the accusations read. When she did so, the accused had performed a non-consensual act. He had warned her that if she spoke, they would both end up in jail for life.

The accused admitted to the charges before a jury trial began, and the court took into consideration that the defence and the prosecution had agreed on the penalty that should be given. The court condemned the accused to a period of 12-years in prison.