A French student was yesterday acquitted of stealing two laptops after a court gave more credence to his claim that the theft report was motivated by two women’s desire to take personal revenge on him.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit expressed doubt in the credibility of the report filed against him by his former girlfriend and another female flatmate with whom he was on holiday.

The report could well have been motivated by revenge, the court decided.

Last Sunday, 22-year-old Maxime Tarraso was apprehended at Malta International Airport where he was found in possession of an Apple Macbook Air and an Asus laptop.

On Monday, he was charged in court with the theft of these laptops from an apartment in Tigné which he was sharing with former girlfriend Caroline Le Roux and Fatoumata Tidiana Kiota.

During the arraignment the two women testified that they had found their laptops missing after returning from a day at the beach.

They said they feared the accused might be flying back home with them as his belongings were nowhere to be seen, and rushed to the airport in a taxi to report the matter to the police.

However the court yesterday said it was not convinced by this version of events. “Objectively it made little sense for the accused to take the laptop of his former girlfriend,” Magistrate Stafrace Zammit said.

The claim made by the accused that Ms Le Roux was after revenge, after he decided to end their relationship, was more credible.

The accused had also claimed that his flatmates had given him their laptops as they knew he would return them once they joined him back in France.

In view of this the court acquitted the French student of all charges brought against him.

Inspector Neville Mercieca prosecuted and Leontine Calleja was defence counsel.