A man who repeatedly raped his former partner after abducting the woman and tying her up has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit jailed the man despite hearing the woman saying she had forgiven him.

The incident took place on the night of April 2, 2012, weeks after the woman informed the defendant that she wanted to break off their relationship.

The court heard how the woman wanted to focus on her marriage after her husband had found out that she was having an extra-marital affair.

However, after the man saw her outside the Casino Di Venezia in Vittoriosa on the same evening, he told her he wanted her.

She refused to speak to him and proceeded to walk away.

He sent her several threatening text messages until he drove up beside her “at full speed” and forced her into his car.

She testified that she was “petrified” of him because he was swearing and shouting. When they got to the Xgħajra Tower tower, which is uninhabited, he beat her, grabbed her by the neck and tied her hands behind her back.

“I gave in and submitted myself to his will because I realised it would have been worse for me if I didn’t,” she told the court as she explained that that was the first time he raped her that evening.

Afterwards, he made her drink several glasses of wine and raped her repeatedly. She said she did not remember what happened after that because she slept in the car.

The woman told the court that the man, who was drunk, said to her a number of times: “If I can’t have you, no one will... even if you’re dead... I’m prepared to cut you into pieces and dump you in the sea where no one will find you.”

The magistrate noted that the woman’s submissive behaviour did not neutralise the violence, nor did it mean that the sex was consensual.

Moreover, the violence used in forcing her into the car and the fact that he tied her hands behind her back all determined the woman’s mental state, she said, before proceeding to impose a custodial sentence.

Police Inspectors Robert Said Sarreo and Louise Calleja prosecuted.