Malta Philharmonic Orchestra Official Guilty Of Sexual Harassment Has Sentence Diminished By Appeals Court
A senior official of the Malta Philarmonic Orchestra (MPO) found guilty of sexual harassment has had his sentence reduced by a court of appeal after his lawyers complained that his one-year suspended sentence was “too harsh”.
The 31-year-old Gozitan man, whose name can’t be published by court order, was found guilty of harassing the victim, subjecting the woman to an unsolicited act of physical intimacy, subjecting her to unwanted sexual behaviour, and misuse of telecommunications equipment.
The victim, after being subjected to this abuse for a period of over three years, eventually had to resign from her job as a trained musician to avoid further contact with this man.
This had caused public outrage and MPO CEO Sigmund Mifsud was also charged with obstructing justice and tampering with evidence.
The defendant, after a guilty plea, was given a one-year imprisonment suspended for four years and placed under a five-year restraining order.
The sentence was reduced to a conditional discharge by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera who agreed with the defense argument that the misuse of telecommunications equipment was a means to an end to the harassment, and did not merit a separate charge.
It was also noted that all the stakeholders agreed to a conditional discharge.
What do you think about the outcome of this case?
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