Woman jailed for falsely accusing two men of raping her

A 26-year-old woman was imprisoned for 15 months today after it was proved in court that she had falsely reported two men of having raped her.

Mona Ibrahimm who is from Saudi Arabia, had claimed in November 2008 that she had been raped by Anderbraham Gebremariam Matthews and Rezenee Gebray Tevelde.

The police, after preliminary investigations, referred the case to the police Vice Squad.

The woman had claimed that she met Rezenee Gebray Tevelde in Valletta and they went to Paceville where they met Anderbraham Gebremariam Matthews and others. They had some drinks and then went to a disco.

When she left at 11 p.m., the two men accompanied her to Valletta in a taxi. At the Valletta bus terminus stairs (leading down to the former Phoenicia laundry) one of the men made sexual advances but she resisted him. He then punched her, pulled off her clothes and raped her. The other man also participated.

They then robbed her of some €300, leaving her €20 which she used to go to the open centre where she lived.

The woman had reported the incident some two days after the alleged incident.

The men were arrested but denied the claims.

Mr Matthews told the police that he had met the woman and others in Paceville but the woman and Rezenee Gebray Tevelde later left the group.

A couple of days later he met the woman on a bus and she told him that Tevelde had robbed her and she demanded the money from him, since he was a friend of Tevelde. He refused and she started shouting at him.

She then went to the police station where all of a sudden she claimed that she had been raped.

Mr Tevelde confirmed that he had been to Paceville with the woman. She then went to his place and wanted sexual relations with him but he refused.

He said he later noticed that she had put his wallet into her bag. He took it back. They went to the police station and she ran off and he never heard of her again before he met his friend.

Court expert Dr Mariella Chircop said Ms Ibrahimm had no signs of violence and there was no indication that she had been raped.

Dr Marisa Cassar said that swabs revealed semen but it did not belong to either of the men.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke said the facts claimed by Ms Ibrahim were not borne out by evidence. Although she had claimed to have been punched and had her clothes pulled off, there wasn't a single scratch on her. The medical evidence also did not back her story.

It was clear that the woman knew that the two men had not sexually assaulted her and that she had filed a false report against them.

She therefore jailed her for 15 months.