A 16-year-old British boy has been acquitted by a court of having, in June 2008 and in previous months, defiled a nine-year-old boy, also British.

The alleged defilement was committed at the accused's residence in Gozo.

It was alleged that the accused used to access adult pornographic sites on internet whilst in the company of the nine-year-old and he also exposed himself in front of him.

The nine-year-old, in turn committed lewd acts on two other minor boys, and the father of one of them reported him to the police.

The accused denied the claims. He said they used to go swimming in the pool or play some video games but they never surfed the internet.

He claimed that after he broke up his friendship with the minor, he got to know from a mutual friend that the minor was spreading rumours about him that he had been showing him pornographic sites and that he had been performing lewd acts. All this was untrue and the rumours had been spread out of spite.

The court said that it was faced with a degree of doubt as to what had actually transpired between these two boys. The evidence was full of doubts and half truths.

Consequently, although the court could be morally convinced that something had actually happened between the accused and the alleged victim, the evidence in these proceedings was grossly lacking. Many people mentioned by the victim and indicated by the accused in his written statement were never produced on the witness stand.

Consequently the evidence produced was not enough to convict the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

Names have been held since the case involves minors.