An Italian woman who is claiming to have been raped by two Somali men said in court today that after the rape, one of the men sat down and smoked a cigarette.

The case is alleged to have happened in the early morning of March 25 last year when the woman was crossing the road in Blata l-Bajda.

She said a car drove up, one of the men came out and bundled her in.

She tried to phone her brother on a mobile phone but he could not understand what she was saying. Then the men took her mobile phone.

She was not immediately alarmed by the men. They drove down from Valletta to the waterfront and then on to Hal Far.

Then one of the men grabbed her by the neck and told her she would die. She started to choke. She also started to pray.

At Hal Far, one of the accused, who is now in a wheelchair, undressed her and raped her.

The car was then driven to another location, then the driver got out, came to the back and raped her.

She was thrown out of the car in the industrial estate.

She said the men also took a Swarovski ring she was wearing.