A man has been cleared of raping a 13-year-old girl after the magistrate found she was “precociously sexually active” and had grossly contradicted herself.

Rennie Persico, 31, of Żejtun was cleared of offending public morals, raping and defiling the girl in 2005.

The young teenager had filed a report at the Żejtun police station saying that five days earlier, on March 16, she had been given a lift by Mr Percisio at about 11.30 p.m. She claimed he took her to a garage and raped her and on another occasion raped her at his flat.

When asked why it had taken her five days to file a report, she told police she was afraid of Mr Persico.

However, Superintendent Paul Vassallo noted that even as she filed the report she said she fancied him and had had sexual relations with him several times in the past.

She also told the police that in the incident she was reporting she had wanted to have sex with the man. However, during the act she changed her mind and asked him to stop but he did not pay any heed to her, Supt. Vassallo told Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani.

Mr Persico told the police that he had heard the girl had sexual relations with several men and he had also seen her riding in several different cars. The two had met while Mr Persico was dating her older sister and sometimes sent text messages on the younger girl’s mobile phone as her sister had run out of credit.

According to the police, the girl described Mr Persico as her “first boyfriend” and said they slept together even though she was not sure whether he may still have been dating her sister.

The girl and her mother informed the court that they wanted to drop the charges against Mr Percisio.

Magistrate Padovani took note of this fact, saying the court could not consider the girl to be a credible witness as she had “grossly contradicted herself”.

The man was cleared of all charges.