Appeal over priest's acquittal in rape case dismissed

An appeals court this morning dismissed an appeal which was filed by the Attorney General after a defrocked priest was cleared of rape because of an error in the charge sheet about where the act took place. The mistake had emerged during the proceedings against three priests. A victim testified he had been raped at the St Joseph Home in Ħamrun when the charge gave the location of the crime as having been a home in Marfa. The former priest, Godwin Scerri, was convicted of abusing boys about 20 years ago and jailed for five years. He was, however, acquitted of the rape charge.  A second former priest, Carmel Pulis, received a six-year jail sentence for also abusing boys. A third member of the same Order, Brother Joseph Bonnett, who had been facing the same charges, passed away  during the proceedings. The priests have filed an appeal. The Attorney General appealed after Godwin Scerri was found not guilty of rape because of the mistake in the charge sheet. But Mr Justice David Scicluna, presiding the appeals court this morning, said the mistake became clear early in the court proceedings and the prosecution had had time to correct it, but did not. The appeal on this point...