Conspiracy and malicious slander

Gozo and the Church are in the news and for all the wrong reasons. It has for long been accepted that a lot goes on behind closed doors on the idyllic holiday island.
Omertà is an extremely dubious trait found in small, tight communities and religion is the icing on the cake. Two recent cases have highlighted the evil that can germinate in such an environment.
Conspiracy and malicious slander have come to light of late, but let us not all act shocked and high and mighty. Many of us have turned a blind eye when confronted with wickedness, because we only get involved if the evil is directed at us, or our nearest and dearest.
The church has a lot to answer for when it comes to keeping things in the family. And it is not the only institution that is responsible when it comes to gender injustice, bias and insensitivity.
Only the other day, during a discussion on divorce, in a semi-public place, a supposed hip man in his late forties insisted he was against divorce. Even if her husband regularly beat a woman, she should put up with it. “For better or for worse” was his stance.
The point is the “better or worse” for whom? No guesses on who gets the worst part of the deal, many a time, even when there are no beatings.
But where are these ideas of servitude for females coming from? It must be down to our other institutions, which includes the media, besides the Church.
There is no doubt that things have not only stalled, when it comes to women’s advancement, but are firmly in reverse gear. I am not going to spell it out, but just take a look around you and see how many women are wielding any influence.
Let us take a look at the alleged rape and what also sounds like a gang-rape case. Four men were involved. Two brothers are accused of rape and another brother and another man (it is not clear whether the latter is a relative) were charged with her defilement.
The police are investigating a claim that lawyers (we don’t know the gender), a priest (it can only be a man) and family members of the men accused of raping the 14-year-old girl tried to prevent her mother from taking the matter to court by bribing her.
She was reported as saying she was “persuaded to sign a contract stating that members of her family would not testify in court in return for €7,000 in psychological support”.
I wonder what form of retribution for the boys was in the deal? A smack on the wrists? Deportation to Comino? Which is probably what the priest involved will get, if anything. Has the Curia got anything to say? Or is it just business as usual covering up bad things in order not to upset the image of the family idyll?
The mother had to endure tremendous pressure not to do the right thing from a gang of supposedly professional, respectable and Christian people (presumably all men).
There was another attempt made to obstruct the course of justice. The mother spoke of yet another approach by two different lawyers (we know that one was Gozitan and one Maltese, yet again we do not know whether any of the lawyers were female).
It is important to know whether the lawyers involved were all male or not in order to fully appreciate the pressure the mother was put under.
Another question is what is in it for the lawyers involved to jeopardise their careers in this way? Or does this sort of thing happen so often that they have no cause to worry about losing their jobs?
What does the Commission for the Administration of Justice have to say about this? I think a statement is in order. The Chief Justice has already made clear his feelings “it seems that manoeuvres by people, who had an interest to see that the case does not reach the courts, involved money changing hands in order for there to be withdrawal of the complaint (in respect of the accused bearing the Said surname)”.
He was reported to have imposed stricter bail conditions on the accused. But why are they out on bail considering the serious charges?
They are reportedly “under house arrest”. Please someone tell me it is not the house where the assaulted girl is in residence.
It is unfortunate that a brother of the accused holds a sensitive job, in the Office of the Prime Minister no less, but he is not his brothers’ keeper and any crime they may have committed should not negatively affect him. However, these conspiratorial manoeuvres should if he was a party to them.

Intrigue and politics in the Church
Let us now turn to the malicious slander case involving a Monsignor. Il-Gens Illum, the Church organ has been ordered to pay €9,000 in damages to Monsignor Giovanni Gauci after it was found guilty of libel.
Magistrate Silvio Meli found that the article was malicious and "poisonous" and the points raised in the paper’s article had been proven to be false.
What I cannot understand is how a Church paper can lay itself open to censure by publishing articles by anonymous authors.
Of course the writer was only anonymous to the readers. I have no doubt that the editor knew full well who the author was before publishing.
But is not a Church organ meant to be setting a good example on Christian behaviour? Should it not steer away from the sensational and gossipy titbits? But then again that is what sells newspapers.
I am amused at the naivety of the people who do not seem to know that the Church, like any other institution, thrives on intrigue and politics.
The Church has been steeped in politics since forever. It is only the degree of political involvement that changes according to the vagaries of any particular era.

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