What was meant to be early experimentation between two children took a serious twist yesterday when the 14-year-old boy was charged with raping an 11-year-old girl.

The boy, an Ecuadorian from Spain, was in Malta on a school trip and the girl, a Swede, was on a family holiday when the two met and one thing led to another at their hotel in St Paul’s Bay, sources said.

The couple began having consensual sex but then stopped and, following the incident, the girl told her father about their encounter and he filed a police report.

Defence lawyer Stefano Filletti told Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona the brief relationship was consensual but, because the law did not recognise anyone below the age of 12 as being able to give consent, the police were forced to charge the boy with rape. The teenager admitted to rape, defiling the girl, participating in sexual activities with her and slightly injuring her.

Police Inspectors Louise Calleja and Edmond Cuschieri said the charges were what they were, adding they did not think this was a case that justified imprisoning the boy.

After taking into consideration the circumstances of the case, the magistrate handed down a two-year jail term suspended for four years.

No names are being published because both are minors.