A man who allegedly raped a traveller who had booked a stay at his home through a couchsurfing app, was remanded in custody after pleading not guilty.

Saliou Balde, a 27-year old Senegalese resident in Marsa, was arrested after the alleged victim, a Polish woman, reported the incident that allegedly took place on July 3.

The woman had turned up at the Zebbuġ police station a week later, claiming that she had been raped by the man who had advertised a single room where she could spend the night.

That room was posted on the app which was aimed at providing travellers across Europe the option of renting a spare room at some private property.

However when the guest arrived at her booked accommodation she found that the room advertised on the app was in fact her male host’s own bedroom.

Faced with such a situation, tired and with no alternative accommodation easily available at 10pm, the woman had gone to bed.

That was when her host allegedly made unwelcome sexual advances which she tried to ward off.

Her attempts proved unsuccessful and in spite of her resistance, the man allegedly persisted.

Messages exchanged between the accused and his alleged victim after the incident indicated that the woman had made it clear that she found his advances unwelcome.

The accused had apologized, explaining that he was drunk at the time.

He later told police during interrogation that he had been so drunk that he did not even remember the incident.

Both the accused and his alleged victim had told police that they had each drunk a bottle of beer and had consumed marijuana.

The woman had told police that she wished to put the negative experience behind her but could not do so because of the accused’s constant stream of messages, the court was told. 

On Tuesday, the man was charged with rape and non-consensual sexual acts.

He pleaded not guilty.

A request for bail was objected to in view of the fear of tampering with evidence, especially since the accused knew the woman’s mobile number and also had access to her social media profiles. 

After hearing submissions the court, presided over by Magistrate Joseph Gatt, turned down the request in view of the serious nature of the offences and the fact that the alleged victim was still to testify.

The court also upheld the prosecution’s request for a Protection Order in favour of the victim.

AG lawyer Darlene Grima prosecuted together with Inspectors John Spiteri and Elisia Scicluna.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta were defence counsel.