A man who allegedly raped his ex-girlfriend at a St Paul’s Bay apartment on Wednesday, was denied bail on Friday although his lawyers argued that the allegations were “fabricated”.

Ilpo Lalli, a 35-year old Swedish graduate who invested in a local business venture, pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges including rape, sexual harassment, holding the alleged victim against her will, causing her mental distress and slightly injuring her.

The court heard about a call that reached the Qawra district police station at around 7pm on Wednesday from a woman who said she could not open the door to her ex-boyfriend’s apartment to retrieve some personal belongings.

When officers went on site, the woman claimed she had been raped by her ex earlier that day.

The man was arrested and charged over the various offences which allegedly were committed some three days prior to the woman’s report.

He pleaded not guilty and requested bail.

But the request was strongly objected to by the prosecution in view of the fact that the alleged victim and other civilian witnesses were still to testify.

Defence lawyer Matthew Xuereb argued that such a situation could be adequately addressed through the introduction of electronic tagging which has long been suggested as a solution. 

The defence also rebutted the prosecution’s argument that the accused had followed his ex to the police station when she went to file a report, claiming that he had indeed gone there to file a report against the alleged victim.

After hearing submissions by both parties, magistrate Joseph Mifsud turned down the request.

The court also turned down a request by the defence for a ban on the publication of the accused’s name.

Inspectors Dorianne Tabone, George Schembri and Audrey Micallef prosecuted, assisted by AG lawyer Sean Gabriel Azzopardi.

Lawyers Matthew Xuereb, Lucio Sciriha and Roberto Spiteri were defence counsel.