Woman may face jail term in Malta for damaging temples

An Algerian woman could face up to six years' jail term if she is found guilty of damaging a national momument in Malta, local media reported on Saturday.

The woman was allegedly spotted by security guards with a Maltese man carving names and love messages on the megaliths at the Ggantija Temples, a world heritage site. The incident happened on Tuesday, according to the Times of Malta.

The 47-year-old man who accompanied her denied he had carved his name in a 5,500-year-old stone,so the police had not yet decide whether to arraign the male suspect too.

It is reported that when the woman was stopped by security guards, they saw the name Stephen carved twice.

Heritage Malta stated though the damage was not alarming, it was irreparable, as the engravings made were quite deep.

Those at Ggantija are the earliest form of megalithic temples to be found in Malta. Millions of euros in European Union funds have been spent to restore the temples and build a new state-of-the-art visitors' center on site.

The monuments are visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year and are among the main destinations of Gozo, an island of the Maltese archipelago. Endit