Raymond Camilleri, 38 of Qawra, this morning pleaded not guilty to defrauding Charmaine Grima of some 23,000 euros in an elaborate scam.

Ms Grima told a court that in 2006 she saw a newspaper advert offering oriental medicine. Since she suffered eczema she called the advertiser - who was Mr Camilleri.

He asked her to go to San Antonio Hotel, taking a swimsuit and a towel. He examined her, and she paid him some 20 euros. She also bought skin lotion from him. At the time she was told that the lotion would help her lose weight and get rid of her skin condition.

She stopped using the lotion when her skin actually flared up.

A month afterwards, Mr Camilleri called her to find out how she was doing, and was surprised that the lotion had made matters worse.

He re-examined her, with the examination including her breasts. He claimed she had a circulation problem in one of them and he took a blood sample.

He then told her that she had a contagious disease and she should keep away from everyone. She began visiting her regularly and they became friends, even going camping in Florence after he claimed to be immune to her condition.

However, while they were abroad, he claimed that she had suffered a bleed while she was asleep and he now had her disease because he had been in contact with her blood.

Back in Malta he claimed they needed a blood transfusion, in Mongolia. They went to a bank for a loan but the bank refused the loan, suspecting that this was not a genuine case.

Mr Camilleri than apparently borrowed money from a certain Charles Saliba to pay for this operation. He also started making her feel guilty for infecting him and strated demanding money. She agreed to start work in a cleaning company belonging to the brother of the accused, with her pay going directly to the accused.

She said she never saw a cent for her cleaner's job in various hotels.

At the time, Ms Grima said she also worked for a pharmaceutical company but lost her job because she was tired.

When she told the accused that she had lost one of her jobs, he was hysterical, claiming he needed to repay the loan.

They then decided to relaunch their business selling lotions. She gave him 500 euros to purchase live bacteria to put into the lotions and another 500 euros for a website and 75 euros to print business cards.

He also told her that they needed a special skin laser machine, costing 700 euros. She later realised it only cost 15 euros after she saw one advertised by a supermarket.

At this stage she started carrying out investigations and realised that he had defrauded her.

He had even told her that he owned money to Il-Bona and that this man also had her name. But that turned out to be untrue and Il-Bona's brother alerted her that the accused was a fraudster.

She then established that everything he had told her was untrue, and she only suffered eczema.

The case continues.