Dutch rape suspect faces fresh accusations in Spain

A sitting in the compilation of evidence against a Dutchman who is accused of rape has had to be postponed this morning, after the court was informed that he was not going to be able to attend, due to the fact that he had recently been arrested on similar charges in Spain.

34-year-old Johan Stellingwerf had become a household name last December, having featured heavily in local news media after he was charged, in open court, with the rape of his former Maltese girlfriend whilst in Malta and with defrauding her out of approximately €25,000 over the course of their four-month relationship.

When his case was called this morning, magistrate Josette Demicoli was informed by Stellingwerf's lawyer Jason Grima, that the man was currently under arrest in Barcelona.

The MaltaToday is reliably informed that he is being held by police as part of investigations into another alleged rape. The man's expected date of return to Malta is not known at this time.

The Dutchman is vehemently denying the accusations and has inundated the court with evidence that he claims, proved his innocence. In separate proceedings, the Maltese woman was found guilty of misappropriating items which belonged to him when she had refused to return them.

Stellingwerf was already fighting previous rape charges, having gone so far as to set up a website to publicly defend his innocence. The website itself, however, admits that he had been accused of rape at least 5 times in Holland in 2006, although three of the women had later retracted their claim. The site claims the remaining two rape convictions had been confirmed on appeal and were now before the European Court of Human Rights. It insists that he had been acquitted of obtaining the women's acquiescence by drugging or intoxicating them.

The man had since also filed Constitutional proceedings against the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police, alleging procedural mistakes had led to his human rights being breached.