A 28-year-old woman who was caught kissing a 16-year-old girl by the girl’s mother was cleared of defiling the minor and participating in sexual acts with her after a court ruled that there was no evidence to prove that this had happened.

The two had been caught kissing in the car of the defendant, a Marsa resident whose name cannot be published by court order, at around 6:45am on 16 March. The daughter was sitting on the woman, who was in the driver’s seat, and both were fully-clothed.

The girl, who has since turned 17, told Magistrate Audrey Demicoli that while she was a lesbian and that she had other girlfriends, she had not yet told her mother about her sexual orientation.

She said that she met the defendant through Facebook and had been dating her for two weeks when the incident happened. They had gone to Paceville and the defendant had driven her home when they began kissing.

In her sentence, the magistrate said that to prove a defilement charge, there must be a lewd act either committed on a minor or in the presence of one.

She defined lewd acts as acts which are capable of arousing sexual interest or sexual appetite, and noted that in this case, the girl had previous experiences of lesbian relationships and knew what she was doing, and was not drawn into it by the defendant.

Magistrate Demicoli also noted that the minor was hiding her sexual orientation from her mother, and that it appeared that the mother filed a police report because of the shock of seeing her daughter with a woman instead of a man, and concluded that there was no evidence to prove defilement.

The magistrate also argued that there was no evidence that the defendant had participated in sexual acts with the 16-year-old, stating that the only evidence presented was that the two kissed on the lips.

She noted that the law did not actually indicate what constituted a sexual act, but said that she believed that a kiss on the lips did not constitute one, thus clearing the woman of all the charges filed against her.

Inspector Sylvana Briffa prosecuted, while lawyer Andy Ellul appeared for the woman.