A male housekeeper charged with indecently touching a 16-year -old hotel guest was granted bail after the alleged victim gave her version of the incident in court.

Shahid Munir, a 27-year-old Pakistani national working at a St Paul’s Bay hotel, was arrested after the teenager reported the incident which allegedly occurred at around 11am on Tuesday.

During the man’s arraignment on Sunday, the prosecution explained how the girl, who was on holiday in Malta, had filed a report at the Qawra police station.

She claimed that the man had touched her indecently when he turned up, asking for permission to enter to clean her room. 

The man was subsequently arrested.

On Sunday, he pleaded not guilty to committing a non-consensual act.

The accused, wearing his housekeeper’s uniform, had knocked at her hotel room that morning, recalled the girl, who testified on Sunday via video conference before her holiday came to an end.

The rest of her testimony proceeded behind closed doors after the court, presided over by magistrate Lara Lanfranco, upheld the prosecution’s request to that effect.

When the hearing resumed in public, defence lawyer Daniel Attard, made a request for bail, which was objected to by the prosecution who argued that the accused stayed at the hotel where the alleged incident took place.

However, after hearing submissions by both parties, the court upheld the request against a deposit of €1,000, a personal guarantee of €2,000 and daily signing of the bail book. 

Inspector Matthew Galea prosecuted.