A language student has been cleared of charges of having raped a fellow student, for lack of evidence.
The case allegedly happened in August.
The student, Yannick Jonathan Chatelle, a 32-year-old French national was accused of having raped a young Spanish woman while she was drunk.
The two lived in the same apartment block and had been out drinking at a friend's place and in a car park. They also danced together.
The woman, Isabele Pantoja Ludena, could not recall how she found herself in her apartment, wearing clothes but no underwear, after drinking in the car park.
The accused said the woman had asked him to give her a lift to her apartment. He did so and CCTV footage showed her walking alone to her apartment. However she lost her key and therefore stayed in his apartment until her friends arrived.
The man said that while she was in his apartment, the girl tried to have sex with him but he was not attracted to her and felt tired because of the drinking.
He therefore slept in another bed.
The woman said she filed the rape charge after the footage showed that she had reluctant to go to the apartment of the accused. She however admitted that she did not remember what had happened but said she felt physically uncomfortable.
In finding in favour of the accused, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri-Herrera noted that according to the CCTV footage, the girl was in the man's apartment for less than half an hour and walked back to her own apartment. She therefore knew what she was doing.
There was no struggle and no call for help. The woman had gone to the man's apartment with the intention of having sex. She filed the rape charge out of spite when her advances were rejected and when, a few days later, she saw him with other girls.
Indeed, it was three days after the alleged case that a report alleging rape was filed.
A court-appointed doctor had found no evidence of rape and there was no DNA belonging to the woman on the clothes of the accused.
The court rejected the rape claims for lack of evidence and found the version of the accused to be more credible.
Dr Joe Giglio and Dr Martin Fenech were defence counsel.