A woman laughed and acted abnormally as she recounted to the police how her former boyfriend had raped her, a court heard yesterday.

Police Sergeant Anton Buttigieg told Magistrate Carol Peralta the woman’s action was “not normal” for someone who had been or was alleging to have been raped.

He was testifying in the compilation of evidence against a man, 34, from St Paul’s Bay, who is pleading not guilty to raping his former girlfriend, injuring her and holding her against her will in July last year.

PS Buttigieg said he had received a report from a woman claiming to have been raped.

The woman, he said, explained the accused had turned up at her house one evening to retrieve some of his belongings as they had just broken off their relationship.

Since the man was drunk and was not in a state to drive, she asked him to stay for the night.

At one point, when they were getting ready to go to bed, the man suddenly removed all his clothes and demanded she have sex with him. She told the police that when she refused, he became aggressive, punched her and bit her finger.

She told the police that he eventually managed to rape her.

Asked about the woman’s behaviour while she was filing the report, PS Buttigieg said she was laughing, smiling continuously and even offered him a drink.

“Her behaviour was very strange and not usual for a woman who had been raped,” he said, adding that her breath stank of alcohol.

Constable Graziella Gatt confirmed that the woman was acting strangely when she accompanied her to Mater Dei Hospital to receive treatment for her injuries.

The case continues.

Magistrate Carol Peralta, who is presiding over the case, ordered that the woman be brought to testify at the next sitting.

Police Inspector Edmond Cauchi prosecuted while lawyer Patrick Valentino appeared for the accused.

Names have not been published on court order.