Malta: 100 cases of online child abuse investigated over 2 years

Nearly a hundred cases of online child abuse have been investigated by the police over the past two-and-a-half years, with cases ranging from downloading of pornography featuring minors to child grooming.

The Times of Malta print edition, reports that since 2017, the Cyber Crime Unit has investigated 67 cases involving the possession and sharing of child indecent material, the majority of which involved cases of adults down- loading child pornography. These included selfies of minors making the rounds, said the unit’s Inspector Timothy Zammit.

A further 28 cases involved sexual offences committed against minors. Since the crime was committed online, in most cases it was deemed to be defilement, said inspector Zammit.These cases involved adults approaching minors online with sexual content as well as cases of grooming. Child grooming is befriending a child with the objective of committing sexual abuse.

Since 2017, the unit has investi- gated 497 cases of computer mis- use (189 in 2017, 218 in 2018 and 90 until June 2019). It investigated 606 cases of online insults, threats and violence (232 in 2017, 280 in 2018 and 94 until June 2019).

“Further to these statistics con- cerning criminal complaints, one must also consider that there may be other reports concerning minors that are not reported to the police. Such issues may be dealt with within the schools without police involvement.

Via Times of Malta