At least one person was charged with paedophilia in Malta every two weeks in 2019, according to recent parliamentary figures.

The figures, tabled by Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia, show that the overwhelming majority of offenders are male, accounting for 22 of the 24 people brought before the courts so far in 2019.

While 24 people may face justice, it fails to paint the full picture with many instances going unreported, particularly in a Maltese society where abuse often takes place within tight-knit communities or amongst relative.

Previous investigations by Lovin Malta have discovered that while one child per week is a victim of sexual assault, very few adults report past abuse.

A key issue behind the glaring gap in catching sexual predators, particularly in child abuse cases, is time-barring, which prevents victims from reporting the incident to the police after a certain period

In Malta, the sexual abuse of a child is punishable by a maximum of eight years imprisonment, meaning that it is time-barred for a maximum of 10 years from the last incident of abuse.

This could go up to 15 years if the crime involved aggravating factors, such as if the abuse was continuous, carried out by a family member, or if the child was younger than 12.

To put things into perspective, if a child was molested at 7, then he only has until he is at most 22 to come forward.

Five victims spoke to Lovin Malta on the issue, while Kaxxaturi tackled the issue head-on.

Things, however, are yet to change with authorities in effect letting paedophiles walk away scot-free on a technicality.