A young man was yesterday acquitted of corrupting a 14-year-old girl at Splash and Fun Waterpark in August last year, after a court ruled that it was not entirely convinced by the victim’s version of events.

The alleged incident occurred while the victim and a friend were swimming in a dark tunnel at the Lazy River, and the accused allegedly touched her private parts.

Magistrate Charmaine Galea noted it was “slightly odd” that the victim, who had endured such abuse, had spent the rest of the day at the resort unperturbed.

Likewise, the testimony of her friend, who said they had subsequently “laughed off the whole incident”, did not appear to support such allegations.

The court also remarked that unlike her friend, the victim was not certain about the identity of the perpetrator. The magistrate also found it hard to believe that the accused could have repeatedly touched her private parts without her screaming for help.

Faced with two versions of events in direct conflict with each other, the court held that the accusations had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt and discharged the accused.