Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1490058
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JANUARY 2023 NEWS – things used to quieten down when he was not around – he impressed upon them that the spirit had also controlled him. He blamed the mother for 'al- lowing' the evil spirit to enter the house because of her affec- tion with the occult. Prosecutors did not believe the man. They argued the sa- tanic voice and paranormal ac- tivity were all a ruse crafted by Joseph to instil fear and main- tain control on the family. Sex on demand The younger daughter told the court how she felt con- trolled by the accused: "I was 14. He controlled me. He brainwashed me to the extent that I wouldn't even tell my mother what was happening... It is very easy to control me. I am very soft and weak and my mother is the same. If he tells her to do something, she isn't going to question why. She was so controlled." She also recounted how the accused used a whip to make his dogs more aggressive, and sometimes used it on both her and her mother. Joseph claimed "he was suffering be- cause of us", the victim said. The younger sister also told the court how she was unable to withstand Joseph's aggres- sive sexual advances. "I had to be available anytime he de- manded sex." From easy-going to being in charge On the witness box, the mother recounted how in the first three months of dating her daughter, the accused was "very nice and easy-going". But then he became increas- ingly demanding. "He started dictating what to do, com- manding us. He would com- mand me to clean, shouting, telling me to cook. He was in charge around the house." She described the accused as possessive of her daughter, having hit her in the face and sometimes not even allowing her to go to school. The desperate situation de- veloping inside the house led the father to abandon his fam- ily and go live with his parents. The elder daughter, who had been living with her grandpar- ents, was forced to go back to her mother's house after Jo- seph threatened to harm her younger sister. She later moved back with her grandparents but was scared because before she left Joseph threatened to kill them. Breaking out Eventually, the elder daugh- ter plucked up courage and recounted what was going on to her psychologist, who then roped in social workers. Social workers encouraged her to file a police report, which she did after much hesitation. On the witness stand, the elder sister's psychologist re- counted how the victim missed two sessions in December 2018 and then requested an urgent meeting. "She looked terrified at first, but as she opened up, she ap- peared amazed and relieved that we were going to help her," the psychologist testified. "She lived through difficult ex- periences." After the broomstick inci- dent, the mother attempted suicide. According to her elder daughter it was a cry for help and the only way her mother could be away from Joseph's clutches by being admitted to Mount Carmel Hospital. A social worker recounted in court: "She [the elder daughter] told us it was the only way her mother could leave the house. Otherwise her mother's going to work was controlled and her phone had been seized by the accused." Joseph's manipulation was devious, cruel and sadistic. But he also found a family riven by problems. Dysfunctional family Court testimony shows how social workers had been fol- lowing the two girls when they were aged 12 and 8 because of neglect. The younger sister testified how, as children, they often waited in the living rooms of strangers' houses while their mother had sex with different men despite being married. She recounted being ostra- cised at school after once catch- ing her mother having sex with the father of a school friend at a barbecue. Her mother had to be medicated, and had suffered many overdoses on prescrip- tion pills, the youngest testi- fied. At the time of the incidents, the younger sister should have been living with her grand- parents but was instead at her mother's home. Joseph, now 22, chose not to testify in what appeared to be a last-minute change of heart by the defence. The defence tried to suggest that other people such as the mother's husband may have had stronger motives to per- form the abuse rather than Jo- seph. The judge rejected this reasoning. In court, Joseph appeared unmoved by the testimony unfolding before him. He re- mained unemotional when the judge read out the two-hour- long judgment and sentenced him to jail, ordering as well that his name be placed on the sex offenders' register. The case, pending any ap- peals, is now closed but the scars of Joseph's sadistic be- haviour remain.