A man who spent one week in preventive custody after his former girlfriend reported him for rape, has been cleared of all criminal wrongdoing after the woman herself testified that there had been no rape at all. 

Hirotaka Miyamoto, a 41-year-old consultant from Sliema, was arrested and remanded in custody last August upon arraignment when he was charged with rape, non-consensual sex and slight injuries in respect of his ex. 

He protested his innocence from the very beginning.

The accused had gone out with his ex and a friend. The trio returned to his apartment where the woman and her friend decided to spend the night since she claimed to be tired. 

The alleged rape was said to have taken place the following morning after the former couple’s friend left the apartment. 

The alleged victim claimed that Miyamoto raped her when she refused his sexual advances. 

She filed a police report and lodged a criminal complaint (kwerela) that triggered criminal action against her ex. 

But when taking the witness stand just over a week later, the woman insisted that she wanted to drop her complaint against the accused. 

The court warned her several times about the consequences of such backtracking, but the woman insisted, going even further by saying that there had been no rape. 

Through her interpreter, the alleged victim explained that the accused and herself “before… were boyfriend and girlfriend”.

The woman insisted that she wanted to drop the case, turning towards the accused to apologise before leaving the courtroom. 

That day, the accused was granted bail while criminal proceedings against him continued. 

The court also upheld a request by the man’s lawyers for a ban on his name in light of the circumstances of the case. 

When delivering judgment the court, presided over by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, lifted that ban.

The wrongdoing attributed to the accused was prosecutable only upon the complaint of the alleged victim, observed the court, citing the relative provisions of the Criminal Code. 

Since the woman had insisted on oath that she wanted to withdraw her criminal complaint, the court cleared the accused of all criminal charges. 

Sources informed Times of Malta that Miyamoto’s former girlfriend has since left Malta for good. 

Lawyers Joseph Brincat and Maria Karlsson were counsel to the accused.