A Gozitan man who sexually assaulted an English woman will spend time behind bars after a court of appeal overturned his earlier acquittal by a magistrate's court.

Paschalino Cefai, had been acquitted on charges of having committed a violent indecent assault upon the woman whom he met at a bar in Marsalforn, Gozo one evening in May 2010.

The court of appeal, presided by Mr Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, heard how the accused had allegedly offered a lift to the victim who had been drinking at the bar and had had a drink too many.

On the way to Victoria, in his Mitsubishi Pajero, the accused had allegedly tried to sexually assault his passenger by touching her, slipping his hands under her dress and kissing her on the lips.

The woman had done all she could to resist the man's advances and had pleaded that she felt sick so that the accused eventually let her out of his car.

Confused and panicked, the victim made her way to the police station in Victoria where she claimed that a man "quite big, about forty" had assaulted her.

In his statement to the police, the accused had alleged that the woman had felt sick as he was driving her home, although no visible traces of vomit had been found in the vehicle. Moreover, he had denied having laid a finger upon her.

READ ALSO: Pasqualino Cefai gets additional jail time for threatening magistrate, assaulting police

The court noted that the first court had concluded that the prosecution had not sufficiently proved its case, since there were obvious contradictions between the versions given by the accused and the victim.

The court noted that although eyewitnesses had testified that the victim had evidently been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the assault, and had even almost stumbled at the bar, she had been consistent when recalling her ordeal before the police and later in court.

It was also observed that the bar owner had told the police that when the accused returned to the bar after escorting the woman, he had confessed "she did not let me."

The evidence showed that the victim had done her best to ward off her aggressor, even though she had been in a drunken state. Although a medical examination had concluded that there had been "no external signs of violence over her body", this did not mean that the violent assault had not been committed.

The court remarked that the acquittal had been based on a mistaken analysis of facts and declared the accused guilty of the violent indecent assault.

In view of the accused's "preceding conduct" as well as his "voluminous criminal record sheet " the court concluded that an effective jail term was called for.

Bearing in mind the fact that the man had taken advantage of the "vulnerability " of his passive victim, the court condemned him to a jail term of 3 months.

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