A 30-year-old Kirkop man was acquitted of attempted indecent violent assault on his foreign-born cousin, but was found guilty of offending public morals after being intimate with the woman in his car at the Wied iz-Zurrieq parking area on 17-18 May, 2008.

He was handed a one-month jail sentence, suspended for four years, and fined €500.

The police were at first going to arraign the man on rape but after speaking to the young woman, they felt there was not enough proof for such a charge. He was also acquitted of relapsing.

The accused told Magistrate Marseanne Farrugia he did not have a lawyer with him when he issued a statement but the court ignored this, saying that this was not the first time the man had been held by the police, even on charges of theft, and gave them a statement, so he was conscious of the situation. Even when aged 23 years he had already had three cases.

The alleged rape occurred on 18 May, 2008 at about 2.45am. The police received a report from a barman, who said a foreign woman was alleging she had been raped.

When the police went on the spot they found the woman holding her handbag and underpants in her hands. She alleged she had been raped by her cousin, but did not know where he lived. She refused to give her and her cousin’s details to the police.

The woman was taken to Mater Dei Hospital to be examined. She was drunk and in hospital was aggressive with the police, who had to handcuff her.

At one time she asked to be allowed to go to the bathroom by herself, and when she locked herself in the police had misgivings and on forcing their way in found she was trying to commit suicide using her handbag’s straps. Dr Carmen Portelli examined her and found of traces of violence in her genitals.

In hospital the woman mentioned her cousin by name and the police went to speak to him. He told them he had known his cousin for about six or eight weeks. He said he had been drinking at a club at Kirkop, where he saw his cousin. He offered to take her for a ride in his car, she accepted and they went to the parking area at Wied iz-Zurrieq where they had consensual sex.

She was drunk and when they were done, he said, she asked for vodka. He took her to a bar in Mqabba and gave her money to buy the vodka. She went into the bar and when she did not come out after some time he left, feeling he had waited enough for her.

The court cosidered the fact that there were no bruises on the woman, and she had given several versions to the police, which made her not credible.

Inspector Carlos Cordina prosecuted.