A man was yesterday cleared of charges of having defiled his niece when she was 15 after the teenager was exposed as a compulsive liar.

The man, who cannot be named by court order, had been accused by the girl of exposing himself and groping her in an uninhabited area in Mtarfa in January 2004. However, a number of witnesses, including her former boyfriend, said she could not to be trusted.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said in her judgment she had given particular weight to the ex-boyfriend’s evidence who recounted a series of tall stories she had told him.

The boyfriend, who started going out with her in 2004 when he was 13, said that during their nine-month relationship she told him she had been sexually abused by her Gozitan uncle, almost sexually abused by a school mini bus driver and, again, almost attacked by two Arab men.

He testified he had met her in a disco in Rabat and she begged him not to bring up their sexual relationship in court or to mention the Gozitan uncle she had told him about.

The magistrate honed in on this point and said that although in court she said she was a virgin, a close friend testified she had in fact had a sexual relationship with her former boyfriend, which meant she had lied under oath. Her claim also contrasted heavily with what her former boyfriend said when he revealed they had sexual contact almost every day throughout their nine-month relationship.

The evidence against her, coupled with the complete denial by the accused, left serious doubts as to whether the girl was credible. It appeared to the court it was just one of her many invented stories in an attempt for people to feel sorry for her and pay her attention.

Defence lawyer Gianella Caruana Curran appeared for the accused.