A 30-year-old man from Kirkop was this morning given a one-month jail term suspended for four years and fined €500 after he was acquitted of violent indecent assault but found guilty of offending public morals.

The man was also cleared of relapsing and committing a crime during the operative period of a suspended jail term.

The court heard that in May 2008 at 3am, a bar man in Mqabba reported to the police that there was a foreign woman alleging that she had been raped.

The police went on site and found the woman holding a handbag and black panties. She claimed she had been raped by her cousin and that she did not know where he lived.

The woman, who was drunk, refused to give the police her or her cousin’s particulars but accepted to go to hospital. On arriving there, she was aggressive with the police and had to be handcuffed.

The court heard that at one point the woman asked to go to the bathroom and insisted on being alone. After she locked the door, the police became suspicious, forced the door open and found her trying to commit suicide with the strap of her bag.

Medical examinations showed no signs that the woman had been raped, although they confirmed that she had had intercourse.

In his statement to the police, the accused said he had only known his foreign cousin for a month-and-a-half. He said they had been drinking together at a bar, had offered to take her for a drive and they went to the Zurrieq parking area, where they had consensual sex.

He said she wanted to drink vodka and he took her to Mqabba and gave her money. She went to a bar and remained in there. When he got tired of waiting, he left.

The woman did not testify because she could not be traced.

In handing down judgement, Magistrate Marsanne Farrugia took into consideration the number of versions given by the alleged victim and the fact that the tests showed that she had not been raped.

The accused was fined and given a suspended jail term because he admitted to having sex in a public place.

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