Teenager accused of raping sister

An 18-year-old boy was yesterday charged with involvement in defiling his two younger sisters and raping one of them.

The boy stood in the dock after pleading not guilty to defiling his two sisters, aged 12 and 17, raping the younger of the two and holding her against her will in and before May.

Lawyer Mark Busuttil, for the boy, asked for bail but Police Inspector Raymond Aquilina objected due to the serious nature of the case.

The prosecuting officer added that, since the boy lived in the same house as his sisters, granting him bail would not be advisable.

Dr Busuttil argued that the boy could be granted bail on condition he lived with a relative.

He added that, although it was true that the charges brought against his client were serious, the accused was contesting the charges as he had been "wrongly accused".

Dr Busuttil said that the boy's father was undergoing separate court proceedings over the same charges. Since the case against the father started, the boy and his 12-year-old sister had not seen eye to eye and she was now inventing allegations against her brother to get her back at him.

Inspector Aquilina told the court the police had intervened following reports filed by the boy's sisters who said that what they claimed had not been a one-off.

After hearing the submissions on bail, Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna ruled that, in light of the nature of the crime, he could not uphold the boy's request for bail.

The identity of the boy is not being revealed by court order to protect the victims' privacy.