Jury trial of man indicted for rape of pregnant wife, forcing her into prostitution, begins

The trial by jury of a man accused of the rape of his heavily pregnant wife and of forcing her into prostitution has begun being heard behind closed doors.

Jurors were selected this morning, before the trial, which is being presided over by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, got underway.

The 34-year-old Nigerian defendant had been arrested in June 2020 after the woman had reported him to the police over a domestic violence incident.

Prosecutors say that the man had been in a relationship with his alleged victim since 2013. The loss of his job in 2014 had put a strain on their relationship, as the woman was also pregnant at the time. The court was told that he had started blaming both the victim and their unborn child for the family’s problems, in particular the financial ones.

Although the woman had started to avoid the defendant in bed, he is accused of having raped her in September 2014, telling her that she “could not leave him without sex because he was not a castrated dog.”  She was nine months pregnant at the time.

They married less than a year later, just three days after she gave birth to his son. Several instances of marital rape allegedly followed in subsequent years.

The man is also indicted for having forced the woman to work as a prostitute, living off the earnings of prostitution, as well as for threatening to kill her.

Prosecutors Darlene Grima and Kaylie Bonett are representing the Office of the Attorney General, while lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace was appointed to assist the defendant as legal aid counsel.