A 21-year-old woman yesterday pleaded not guilty to defiling a 12-year-old girl, who is a neighbour of hers, on New Year's Eve.

The woman, who cannot be named by court order to protect the victim's identity, appeared in court accompanied by her family and denied the charges of defiling the girl and facilitating her corruption.

She also pleaded not guilty to breaching the conditions of two previous releases.

Police Inspector Jesmond Borg pointed out that since the victim lived in the same apartment block as the accused, they were definitely going to meet at some point. He said this was obviously prejudicial to the case.

Defence lawyer Gavin Gulia said his client would live with her father in another locality to prevent any further contact with the alleged victim.

After ensuring that the accused would move out of her mother's flat, Magistrate Edwina Grima granted her bail against a personal guarantee of €10,000.

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