The young man charged with allegedly raping the mother of his 15-year old girlfriend and defiling the underage girl in the course of satanic practices, has been granted bail.

The 18-year old, whose naming was banned under court order, had been detained under preventive arrest ever since his arraignment on February 8. He has pleaded not guilty to rape, violent indecent assault, holding his victims against their will, coercing them to engage in indecent acts and slightly injuring the women.

A request for bail was turned down at the arraignment, with the youth spending over three months in custody while the compilation of evidence continued, presided over by former Magistrate Aaron Bugeja.

Following the elevation of Dr Bugeja to judge, the case had to be assigned to another magistrate.

While awaiting notification of the next hearing, the accused’s defence lawyers on May 7 filed a fresh application to the Criminal Court for his release from custody.

That Court, presided over by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, declared that presumption of innocence was the cardinal principle to which detention or arrest was only the exception.

The Court observed that after having been summoned by the police for questioning, the accused had been granted police bail for 10 days, prior to his arraignment in court. During that period, the man had abided fully by the conditions set down by the police, the Court observed, adding that the police had not imposed any form of personal guarantee at the time.

Moreover, the youth had been living with the mother but there had been no reports of him attempting to coerce the witnesses into changing their testimony were received, the Court pointed out.

Since his arraignment, both the prosecution and the Attorney General had constantly objected to bail, primarily on the grounds that the mother was still to testify and also because they argued that the man could manipulate his alleged victims.

However, the Court “found it difficult to embrace this reasoning,” pointing out that the accused was “an 18-year-old boy with a clean criminal record,” and that although there would always be the risk that an accused would breach court orders, this risk had to be weighed against the right to personal freedom.

The Court therefore granted bail against a deposit of €1,000, a personal guarantee of €8,000, a curfew between 9pm and 8am and an order to sign the bail book every day.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta were defence counsel.