However, the couple maintain they never gambled a single cent of funds that were donated to Kane and insist they only pleaded guilty to avoid a hefty prison sentence.

Debattista presented Lovin Malta with years’ worth of photos and receipts to back up how he spent his money over the timeframe in which he was accused of money laundering.

These include monthly rent payments, which rose from €700 to €850, utility bills and loads of ways they made Kane’s life better.

From a dog and a pony to toys, clothes and a trip to Disneyland Paris, the Debattistas showered Kane with gifts as he battled through chemotherapy to fight a life-threatening tumour in his liver and kidneys.

“People are asking us what happened to the €35,000 and this is the answer,” Debattista said as he presented photos and receipts which he said were rejected as evidence in his court case.

“We gave our son everything he wanted and left him wanting for nothing,” a tearful Debattista said as he called out people who accused him and Nicole of being bad parents.

While Debattista did gamble from time to time, he insisted that he never wagered cash that had been given to him to help Kane but used money he had won on one big bet a few years ago.

Debattista recounted how he won €26,000 at the Marsa Horse Racing Track in 2019 after betting €500 on a horse called Ami Toon’s to win a championship.

“This horse had a good chance from what I heard so I placed €500 on it to win the entire tournament at the start of the competition when the odds were 52/1,” he said.

“After winning the €26,000, I bet most of it… my goal was to win enough money to be able to afford a house but I lost most of it.”

Unfortunately, he couldn’t produce evidence of this huge victory as the Marsa track doesn’t give receipts and Patrick Cachia, the bookie he had gone to, has since passed away.

“When you place a bet, they split a chit in half and you have to return your half to claim your winnings. It’s the system and it’s not illegal, but the police didn’t believe my version of events.”

As for Nicole, he said she was only dragged into the case because he had once used her credit card to place a bet online.

“I told police that I used her credit card and urged them not to charge her but they ignored me and charged her anyway simply because it was her name that appeared on the card.”

Although Puttinu Cares workers testified in court that Debattista and Bezzina behaved in an exemplary manner throughout their son’s ordeal, the courts came down hard on the couple.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech fined them a total of €50,000, confiscated the donations they had earned, placed them under probation for three years, and issued a treatment order to help them combat their “gambling addiction”.

She noted that while Bezzina had a clean police conduct, her partner’s was more “colourful”.

Debattista said that while he doesn’t know what led the police to suspect that he had gambled away donation funds, he believes they probably received a report from someone who was out to get him.

“Someone wanted this day to arrive and it has now arrived.”

He teared up when discussing the €50,000 fine as he wondered aloud how on earth he was expected to pay it.

“We spent a year in hospital never leaving our son’s room, we gave him everything but now we have been fined €50,000 for nothing and people are claiming that we are bad parents. We have become victims of society,” he said.

Cover photo: Main photo: Ryan Debattista, Nicole Bezzina and Kane Debattista, Inset: Ryan’s lucky horse Ami Toon’s

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