A woman was yesterday charged with falsely accusing her now estranged husband of raping her more than two years ago, when they were having marital problems.

The 30-year-old woman, who cannot be named by court order, pleaded not guilty to filing a false police report and reporting an incident to the police when she knew that the offence had not taken place.

Before magistrate Antonio Mizzi, the woman’s husband testified that in November 2004 his wife and he were passing through a difficult phase in their marriage. He explained that on 14 November they had met and had consensual sex. Soon after, the woman went to a police station and reported her husband, claiming that he had raped her.

Police inspector Johann Fenech prosecuted and Dr Franco Debono appeared for the woman.