A 16-year-old's testimony about her former boyfriend has cleared a man of the charge of rape.

The girl had testified in court that 18-year-old Fousseyni Kanitao, who is from Ivory Coast, had raped her at his Burmarrad flat in February 2006. She said she had been forced to go to his flat and to have sex with him.

When she did not return home that night and did not answer her phone, her parents, who disapproved of the relationship, filed a missing person's report.

The accused always maintained his innocence and denied ever having sexual relations with her.

Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani cleared the man saying the girl's testimony did not make sense.

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