Boy, 16, charged with subway rape

A 16-year old boy was yesterday charged with raping and seriously injuring a 55-year-old woman in a Floriana subway last June.

The police had originally arraigned an Arab man over the case after the woman had identified him as being her aggressor. The man had been cleared of the charges after the Attorney General stopped the proceedings.

During yesterday's arraignment the boy, whose name cannot be published by court order, pleaded not guilty to the rape and illegal arrest of the woman in Floriana on June 29, violently and indecently assaulting her, using violence to compel her to do his bidding and seriously injuring her.

The boy, of Hamrun, was also charged with offending public morals and committing the crime during the operative time of a suspended jail term.

In August the boy had been charged with the violent indecent assault of two women, one in Sta Venera on June 8 at about 5 a.m. and the other in Hamrun on July 31 at about 5.30 a.m.

Police Inspectors Louise Calleja, Christopher Pullicino and Carlo Ellul prosecuted.

Dr Mark Busuttil was legal aid for the boy.