The Court of Criminal Appeal has confirmed a nine-year prison sentence for former art teacher Carmel Agius after rejecting his appeal against convictions related to the sexual abuse of three students.Agius, 58, from Fgura, had originally been found guilty in October 2025 of sexually abusing three minors aged 10, 11 and 13 at his art school in 2020.The court had found him guilty of carrying out sexual acts on minors placed under his care and teaching, as well as committing sexual acts without consent.In his appeal, Agius argued that the minors may have discussed him among themselves and misinterpreted some of his behaviour. He continued denying the accusations and claimed the court should have found reasonable doubt.However, as reported by TVMNews, the Court of Appeal upheld the original judgement, giving weight to testimonies from the minors, who described being touched inappropriately during art lessons.Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera also noted that Agius abused his position as a teacher and showed no remorse, instead blaming the victims.The court further highlighted the trauma suffered by the minors at such a young age.Alongside the prison sentence, Agius has had his teaching warrant revoked and remains listed on Malta’s sex offenders register.Agius had previously also been sentenced to two years in prison in a separate case involving the corruption of a 12-year-old student.•