A 49-year-old man was charged on Saturday with making sexual advances at 16-year-old girl in a Paceville nightclub.  

The incident allegedly took place on Monday. 

Lionel Seux, from France, pleaded not guilty during his arraignment before duty magistrate Natasha Galea Scibberas on Tuesday morning.   

Seux told the court, when asked, that he was unemployed due to his disability.

The prosecution, led by inspectors John Spiteri and Leeroy Balzan Engerer, told the court how the accused was in a nightclub and took the teenage clubber into a bathroom stall with him.  

He undressed her and himself and then went on to touch her and himself inappropriately, the court was told.  

The inspectors said that had the girl’s friend not been persistent in knocking on the bathroom door until she was let in, the case could have been a far more serious one of sex with a minor.  

The prosecution objected to a request for bail due to the seriousness of the offence, which carries a nine-year prison sentence.  

Because the man was in Malta on holiday, the fear of absconding was higher than it would be had he been a resident.  

Furthermore, the accused could try and contact the girl since the two have each other’s mobile phones.  

Magistrate Galea Sciberras denied Seux’s request for bail and he was remanded into custody.