A court has ruled that a 15-year-old girl was "inventing" when she claimed that a 43-year-old man had defiled her.

The man, a resident of Mtarfa, was found not guilty of defiling the girl, holding her against her will and offending public morals.

The girl had alleged that the incident happened in January 2004.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli observed that the prosecution had based its case on the evidence presented by the girl. Other witnesses were not present at the time of the incident and had also based their accounts on what she had told them.

The girl had said that the accused was her uncle and she had known him all her life. His home, which was close to her's, was her second home.

She used to speak to his wife about the problems she had with her parents.

On January 17, 2004 she had gone to his house to help her cousin with her make-up. She could not go out because of a punishment by her parents, and had therefore gone to the house wearing a jacket over her pyjama.

When he returned from work, she joined him as he drove his daughter to a disco in Rabat. When her cousin left, he joked in a vulgar manner. He suggested that they go for a drive and she agreed.

He stopped at an isolated place near Mtarfa where, she said, he fondled her. He also exposed himself.

She asked him to stop and could not believe what was happening.

He then took her home and she promised him she would not tell anyone. However, later that they she phoned a friend and told her what happened.

Her friend eventually persuaded her to speak to a school counsellor and to the Helpline, but made sure her parents were not told. The allegations were however reported to Appogg, who called in the police.

The girl claimed that she had previously gone out with a boyfriend for nine months but they had no sexual relationship. After the break-up on one occasion she drank vodka to drown her problems.

The court observed that during cross examination the girl was vague on what she told the counsellor and contradictory in some of her remarks.

The accused had strongly denied that the alleged incident had taken place and he could not understand the reasons for the girl's claims. He denied telling her vulgar jokes or groping her.

His wife confirmed to the court that he had returned home promptly after driving their daughter to the Rabat disco. She herself had warned the girl not to be out long to avoid being punished by her parents.

She said she had not detected any change in behaviour by the girl after the alleged incident. In fact, whenever the two families went out, she always asked to travel in their car, instead of her parents.

The girl, she said, used to complain that her parents mistreated her, but her parents said she did not tell the truth.

Another witness, the girl's former boyfriend, told the court that the girl could not be trusted because of her 'continuous lies'. She used to tell him that his friends would flirt with her, something which they strongly denied. Furthermore, contrary to what she had said, they had had a sexual relationship as from the first week. She had also told him that she had been abused by another uncle in Gozo, and had also claimed that a school bus driver also tried to abuse her. However, her description of the man was not true.

The court concluded that the evidence given by the girl could not be believed because she had lied under oath before the court and contradicted herself. She was far from convincing in her evidence and had avoided questions on the reasons why she went for counselling sessions and about her sexual relationship with her boyfriend.

It had resulted that the girl had a history of making up stories and making serious, false, allegations to attract attention, the court said.

The court imposed a ban on the names of those involved in the case.

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