A 34-year-old woman from St Julian's has been found guilty of prostituting herself and relapsing, yet was found not guilty of stealing €11,300 euros from a client during a supposed "10-minute" sex romp

A court heard two conflicting versions of what happened on the night of 13 May 2013, when the man picked the woman up from Gzira and they proceeded to her St Julian's flat to have sex.

The man told the court that he was carrying €15,000 in €500 denominated notes given to him by his business partner in order to set up a new venture. He explained that he did not deposit the money in a bank because it was a weekend.

On arriving at the St Julian's flat, the court heard how he went to the toilet and took out €20 from a pile of €75 he had in one pocket, while an envelope with the €15,000 in it was in the other pocket.

He then stripped off his jeans and underwear and got onto the bed, where the prostitute performed oral sex on her knees.

He said he could not see her hands at this point, and his jeans were well within her reach on the nearby sofa.

Asked if anyone else was present at the time, he said there was a brown cat at the foot of the bed.

With time pressing, he says the woman gave him the hurry up and told him to put on a condom, which he duly did and they proceeded to have sex "for 10 minutes."

Once the deed was done and he was putting his jeans back on, the prostitute pointed out that he had dropped an envelope.

It was only once he took the prostitute back to Gzira and arrived at his Msida home that he noticed €11,300 was missing from the envelope.

He immediately went in search of the prostitute, but did not manage to find her.

He then went to the Sliema police station, and filed what must have been a very awkward police report.

The man admitted to knowing the woman, and was aware of her drug abuse and past history of thefts.

A police search of the woman's apartment did not yield the missing cash, and neither did they see the brown cat, although they spotted a bowl with animal food.

On her part, the woman told the court that she knows the man well, seeing that they were family friends.

She said the man had been courting her for a while, but she never gave in to his advances.

He used to lend her money in order to fund her drug habit.

On the night in question, she said she gave in to his advances and went with the man to the apartment rented by her and her partner.

Her partner was not there at the time, as he had been arrested that day, she told the court.

The woman said she stripped naked and accepted €20 from the man, yet nothing happened between them, though the man did take off his jeans.

When he was putting them back on again he dropped the envelope, which she picked up and gave to him.

He opened the envelope then put it back in his pocket, she said.

She said she is still perplexed as to why he decided to file a false report against her.

The prostitute's mother also testified in court. She said her daughter had undertaken multiple drug rehabilitation programmes. The mother said she used to sleep with her purse under her pillow and mobile under her mattress as both her children were drug users.

In his testimony, Dr Joseph Spiteri said the woman, who is now in prison, has been under his care for five years, and is no longer on drugs. The woman also suffers from an eating disorder and depression.

In her judgement, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera said the case centres on the credibility of the two main witnesses.

The Magistrate noted that the man gave conflicting versions to different police officers about how much money he was carrying in the envelope, with the amounts varying from €10,000 to €15,000.

Dr Scerri Herrera said the man had not explained his movements on the day prior to going with the prostitute, and his business partner was never called to testify by the prosecution.

The Magistrate said his excuse about not being able to deposit the money because banks are closed on a weekend "is no excuse," as deposits can be made 24 hours a day.

The Magistrate said it is "far from ideal" running around with such large sums of cash and going with a prostitute.

The woman was found guilty of loitering and relapsing, and was sentenced to one year imprisonment.

She was cleared of the theft charges.

Inspectors Carlos Cordina and Trevor Micallef prosecuted.

Lawyer Joe Brincat appeared for the accused.