A 15-year-old girl was made to have sex with a 31-year-old restaurant worker after he threatened to publish nude photos and videos of her in a gruesome case of online grooming and child pornography.
Mazhar Mushtaq, 31, from Pakistan, living in Qormi was charged on Wednesday with the rape of the 15-year-old girl, forcing her to participate in porn, participating in sexual activities with an underage girl through violence, misuse of telecommunications equipment and producing child pornography.
The alleged crimes involved the use of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit heard the young girl’s lawyer Veronique Dalli explain how the man had allegedly become fixated on the girl after meeting her a few times.
When she refused to meet him again, he had used three fake social media accounts to pretend he was a third party and demand that she get back with him or compromising photographs and videos would be published.
The 15-year-old was allegedly coaxed into meeting him again by the prospect of the images being deleted if she had sex with the accused in a hotel room, the court was told.
Prosecuting inspectors Paula Ciantar and…
