A man accused of rape on Monday insisted in court that he did not even know the woman with whom he had one-off consensual sex.
Jozsef Laszlo Kota, a 32-year old Hungarian who has been living and working in Malta for four years, pleaded not guilty to rape, dangerous driving under the influence of alcohol as well as having taken up residence at a place that was not the one stated on his identity card.
He appeared in court after police said that they had managed to track him down after a public call for help.
Prosecuting Inspector Stacy Attard explained how the alleged rape had taken place in the early hours of Saturday morning after the accused and his alleged victim met at a real estate agency event on Friday evening.
The woman had apparently accepted a lift home by Mr Kota.
However, instead of heading towards her home, he had allegedly driven on to Dingli, grabbing a couple of bottles of wine on the way.
From then on things had taken a turn, resulting in two differing versions of events.
Defence lawyer Franco Debono argued that Mr Kota was insisting that the sex was consensual.
Whilst making submissions on bail, Dr Debono pointed out that Mr Kota had fully cooperated with investigators, releasing two statements detailing the events of that night.
Moreover, he did not even know the woman whom he had met at the event, adding that the accused had no idea of her address or contact details.
The prosecution countered that eight civilian witnesses, including the alleged victim, were still to testify and besides, since the accused was a foreigner, there was a real fear of absconding.
Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit denied bail in view of the gravity of the charges and the fact that the prime witness was still to testify, directing that she be summoned at the first hearing.
Lawyer Amadeus Cachia was also defence counsel.