A Maltese businessman has been acquitted of violently indecently assaulting a chambermaid at the Golden Sands hotel in a case reminiscent of the scandal that hit the former IMF bank chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

The woman had made 23 police reports about similar incidents which turned out not to be true

The 60-year-old father of two, who cannot be named by court order, was accused by the woman of raping her on June 8, 2006 in the early evening as she was there to leave chocolates in his room and clean up.

Magistrate Miriam Hayman acquitted him after highlighting the inconsistencies in her testimony and the fact that she had made 23 police reports about similar incidents involving other men, which turned out not to be true.

She also pointed out that the woman’s credibility had been severely dented by the evidence.

Despite her allegations of rape, the man ended up being accused of violent indecent assault because, according to Police Inspector Paul Bond, rape did not result from his investigations.

The inspector said the woman had at first not wanted to press charges but then changed her mind. She had reported the alleged incident to her supervisor who called the police.

The accused always categorically denied rape and said that while he was in the bathroom he noticed a shadow walk past him and realised it was a chambermaid.

He told the woman that he was going to get dressed and would come out, and asked her what she had come to do. She said she had come to leave chocolates in the room and turn on a table lamp. He remarked that the service in the restaurant was terrible and they got talking about how he had been involved in the construction of the hotel and designed certain elements of it.

All of the sudden, her Thai colleague walked in and the chambermaid hid behind a mirror and made a sign to him to act as if she was not there. When he later asked her why she had done this, the woman told him that she could get fired if caught in the room.

At this point he received a phone call from reception to pick something up and he asked her to leave the room so he could get dressed but she refused and he left the room with her still inside.

In her own version, the woman claimed he grabbed her bottom and then forced her on to the bed, pulled up her on top of him and try to kiss her. He also managed to touch her intimately and tried to have oral sex with her but she tried to resist his advances.

When asked why she had not screamed or tried to alert her colleague, the woman said she was scared he might kill her.

Magistrate Hayman said that from CCTV footage of the corridor it was evident that the woman walked out and back into the room twice and remained in the room for some 11 minutes.

The magistrate found her behaviour strange especially when she tried to hide from her colleague in the room when she should have shouted for help. She also found it strange that a chambermaid would be so scared of being found coming out of a room.

She took into consideration that the woman had made many other reports, which turned out to be baseless, as well as the fact that her credibility had been dented by the evidence.

Lawyer Joseph Giglio appeared for the man.