A university student has denied charges of raping his former girlfriend three years ago.
The 21-year-old Gozitan was granted bail after pleading not guilty during his arraignment on Thursday.
He was escorted to court under arrest after his ex-girlfriend, a 20-year-old Mcast student, filed a report in April alleging that she had been raped by her then-boyfriend when they were 18.
Defence lawyer Giannella DeMarco contesting the validity of the arrest, pointed out that although the allegations dated back to December 2016, the woman had only filed a report in April 2019.
Moreover, the accused had willingly answered the police summons, co-operated in the investigation and answered all questions, Dr DeMarco argued.
The University of Malta student was living in Malta and went to Msida police station when officers contacted him.
The alleged victim had kept up her WhatsApp chat with the accused up to May 2018, even sending him a message to say that “she had enjoyed it,” the lawyer said.
“He cannot certainly stay in jail for something that was ‘fun’ three years ago,” Dr DeMarco stated, when making submissions on the accused’s request for bail.
Not only did the alleged rape date back three years, but the victim had expressed no fear, chatting with her former boyfriend up to last year, the defence lawyer insisted, adding that the man had an untainted criminal record, had a supportive family and was willing to abide by all conditions as deemed necessary by the Court.
Moreover, had the police sensed any form of threat they would have taken immediate action, Dr DeMarco said.
Inspector Valletta, assisted by parte civile lawyer Lara Dimitrijevic, pointed out that the alleged victim also resided in Malta.
After hearing submissions by both parties, the Court, presided over by magistrate Nadine Lia, upheld the request for bail against a deposit of €1,000, a personal guarantee of €5,000, a condition to sign the bail book once a week and a prohibition of not residing at or going to the locality where the alleged victim lived.
The Court further issued a Protection Order in favour of the alleged victim, while upholding a request by the defence for a ban on the publication of names, which request was not objected to by the prosecution and was to remain in effect throughout the proceedings unless revoked by the Court.