A young mother who spun a wild tale about strangers trying to kidnap her baby has been spared by a court.

Marta Gatt, 29, residing at Biżebbuġa, had told police and posted on Facebook that a strange couple had tried to run away with her child while her back was turned inside a confectionery last November. 

She had filed a police report describing how she had stood with her back to her child, strapped in the pushchair, when suddenly the child’s cries had caused her to turn round, just in time to see a couple heading off with the pushchair.

The kidnapping attempt, the woman alleged, had been foiled by a foreigner who had given chase, with the abductors had leaving the pushchair and child behind and running away. 

However, when investigators examined CCTV footage recovered from the scene of the attempted kidnap, they soon realised that no such thing had happened.

Confronted by the police, Ms Gatt soon admitted that her story was nothing but a fanciful tale. She blamed the lie on a traumatic experience she had had with the father of the child and said she never meant to cause harm or spread fear.

However, criminal charges were pressed against her for having fraudulently made up the kidnap story, spread false news and made improper use of technology.

The court, presided over by magistrate Audrey Demicoli, concluded that on the basis of all evidence produced, none of the charges had been sufficiently proved, clearing the mother of all alleged wrongdoing.

Lawyer Joe Giglio was defence counsel.