A man was acquitted of verbally pestering a young woman after his alibi was proved when he cited the programme broadcast on the Public Broadcasting Services channel he was watching at the time of the alleged incident.

Raymond Camilleri, 26, from Nadur, had been accused of verbally harming Caroline Debono on 31 August 2003 and of trespassing. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, claiming he had been at home watching the news when the alleged victim said the incident had occurred.

Ms Debono told the court that Mr Camilleri had climbed onto the roof of her parents’ residence and began calling out to her and speaking to her inappropriately as she was having a bath. In order to perform this stunt, the accused would have had to climb onto other people’s roofs before gaining access to the roof of the Debonos, the court noted.

The accused said the girl and her family were making up the whole incident and insisted he had been at home watching the news on PBS. He even said that a documentary about Frenc tal-Gharb came on after the news broadcast. Newscaster and PBS representative Ruth Amaira was called to the stand to confirm this. She indeed said that this documentary was broadcast after the 8pm news on 31 August 2003 and had not been shown prior to this time.

In view of this information, the court, presided over by magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera declared it was difficult to believe Mr Camilleri went to all that trouble to climb onto the Debonos’ roof. The court therefore found the accused’s testimony to be credible and acquitted him of all charges.

Inspector Maurice Curmi prosecuted.