A woman who escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Estonia and travelled to Malta was yesterday charged with filing a false rape report.
Police inspectors Sylvana Briffa and Christabelle Chetcuti told Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras the woman, 29, reported to the police on August 20 that, the day before, a foreign man barged into her room in a villa in Madliena, where she was staying together with other people, and raped her. However, CCTV footage showed that nobody had entered her room after she had walked in and she was not seen fleeing, as she had claimed, the prosecution said.
No plea was entered because both the prosecution and defence lawyer Joseph Mizzi asked the court to appoint a psychiatrist to assess the woman’s mental state and determine whether she was mentally fit to face trial.
The prosecution said investigations indicated she had escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Estonia and travelled to Malta. The woman is being held at Mount Carmel Hospital.