The carer who allegedly raped a young lady working as a cleaner at a home for the elderly was remanded in custody after denying the criminal allegations in court.

Sandesha Shetty, the 31-year old Indian national, residing at Rabat and employed as carer at the residential home where the abuse took place on Sunday morning at around 10am, was taken to court under arrest on Tuesday.

The man pleaded not guilty to having engaged in non-consensual sexual acts with the female member of staff, holding her against her will while subjecting her to acts bearing sexual connotations, amounting to offensive, humiliating, degrading or intimidating towards his alleged victim.

Prosecuting Inspector John Spiteri explained how on April 7 the alleged victim had filed a report, claiming to have been raped by a colleague at her workplace.

The woman had said that the incident had taken place while she was cleaning a room at the residential home. She said her aggressor entered the room and with her back turned upon him, he had crept up, grabbed her and forced himself upon her.

The whole incident lasted a minute, the woman explained.

The man had gone away to grab a sandwich, returning a while later to continue where he had left off but had been halted in his tracks by the presence of third parties who had since entered the room.

The woman had first relayed her ordeal to her boyfriend and had subsequently filed a police report.

A medical examination of the woman had confirmed the rape, the court heard.

The alleged aggressor denied the charges and was remanded in custody since no request for bail was made during his arraignment.

The court, presided over by magistrate Monica Vella, banned publication of the name of the victim as well as of the home where the alleged abuse took place.

Inspectors John Spiteri and Stacy Attard prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia were defence counsel. Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Alfred Abela appeared parte civile.

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