A court on Monday accepted a young woman's plea to stop proceedings against her partner over rape and domestic violence, saying he was the father of their seven-month-old child and she loved him.
The court heard that the woman turned up on Saturday at the police Gender Based Violence Unit and reported that her partner had beaten her up the previous day.
She had left her house, and when she returned to try to patch things up, he allegedly began to hit her on the head and locked her in a room to stop her from going to her mother’s place.
During investigations, it emerged that the relationship was “based on fear”, explained prosecuting Inspector Dorianne Tabone.
The woman claimed she was the victim of ongoing sexual abuse. Most of the time, her partner forced her to have sex even though she resisted.
“He'd fling her onto the bed or sofa or wherever and get what he was after,” the inspector said.
The man, 31, of Birżebbuġa, was arrested and arraigned on Monday, charged with various instances of rape and other offences.
Asked by defence counsel Franco Debono to explain what was meant by "instances of rape", the prosecution said the accused forced the victim to have sex even though she declined.
The accused pleaded not guilty to rape, non-consensual sexual acts and unlawfully holding his alleged victim against her will. He also denied slightly injuring her, causing her to fear violence, assaulting, insulting and threatening her.
The 21-year-old mother informed the court that she wished to drop her complaint.
She briefly took the witness stand, saying that she did not wish to continue with the case since the accused was the father of her son.
“The important thing is that he lets me be,” said the woman, adding that their relationship was now over.
Asked by Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia whether she had been approached by anyone, threatened or offered money to drop charges, the witness replied in the negative.
“I love him,” she added, as she stepped off the witness stand.
The law currently grants the court discretion to accept a victim’s wish to withdraw her complaint.
The prosecution stated that they would comply with the court’s decision.
Defence lawyer Franco Debono argued that the court should give due weight to the victim’s wish after it was ascertained that she had reached her decision voluntarily. Moreover, the prosecution had not objected to the victim’s wish and that too had to be given due weight.
The magistrate retired to chambers to decide on the matter.
After some lengthy deliberation, the magistrate delivered a decree observing that the parties had been together for four years and were the parents of a young child.
Moreover, this was the first report filed against the accused.
In light of such considerations, the court upheld the victim’s request and ordered proceedings to stop.
AG lawyers Danika Vella and Shaun Azzopardi prosecuted together with Inspectors Dorianne Tabone and Colin Sheldon. Lawyers Franco Debono, William Cuschieri and Lennox Vella were defence counsel. Lawyer Yanika Bugeja assisted the victim.