A man who allegedly encouraged his underage girlfriend to falsely report that she had been raped by a friend of the couple has ended up being charged with defilement himself.

The 25-year-old technician from Ħamrun was escorted to court under arrest on Friday afternoon, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of defiling the girl, who is 10 years his junior, engaging in sexual acts with her and creating circumstances for the purpose of having a third party falsely accused of violent rape.

The man was further charged with causing his girlfriend to fear violence, breaching bail conditions and being in possession of cannabis which he failed to prove as being for personal use.

He was also charged with being a relapser.

Although details were scanty during the hearing, sources said that the man had accompanied his girlfriend to the police station to report that a friend of theirs had forced himself upon her, engaging in non-consensual sex.

However, once inside, the girl had admitted that she was having sex with her boyfriend and that her earlier story had not been true. So the girl’s boyfriend was arrested.

No request for bail was made at this stage.

The court, presided over by magistrate Charmaine Galea, ordered a ban on the publication of all names, further ordering that the ban be posted within the building of the Court.

Inspectors John Spiteri and Kylie Borg prosecuted. Lawyers Alfred Abela and Arthur Azzopardi were defence counsel.