A British woman has been found guilty of lying that she was gang raped by a group of Israeli teenagers while on a working holiday in Ayia Napa, a Mediterranean resort town on the southeast coast of Cyprus.
A court in Cyprus today, December 30, found the woman, 19, from Derbyshire, lied about being sexually abused by up to 12 tourists at a hotel in the holiday resort in mid-July.
She was arrested after police said she withdrew her accusation 10 days after the alleged attack.
In a case closely followed by rights groups, a district court in the town of Paralimni today delivered the ruling and the 19-year-old now faces a prison sentence after being found guilty of “causing public mischief”.
Lawyers for the British woman said she withdrew her accusation under duress after nine hours of police questioning with no lawyer present. They argued that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the time she withdrew the accusation. But prosecutors and the court dismissed that claim.
Throughout the trial which lasted four months, the British teenager vehemently denied that the ordeal was made up and argued she was forced to sign a false confession following pressure from the Cypriot and Israeli authorities.
The Israeli teenagers she accused of assaulting her denied any accusation of rape. They were released 10 days after their arrest without charge on the day the woman gave her retracting statement.
The individuals she had accused of assaulting her were not summoned to court because prosecutors considered it a case of public mischief and not rape.
In testimony in open court, the defendant said she was in a hotel room with one of the Israeli teenagers with whom she had a relationship, before others appeared and she was pinned down.
Defence witness, Marios Matsakis, a forensic pathologist who formerly worked for the state, said the British woman’s injuries were consistent with rape.
However, prosecutors said she fabricated the allegation and was angry at being filmed during sex.
In his verdict at Famagusta District Court, the presiding judge described the woman’s claims as “inconsistent”.
He added: “My conclusion is that the guilt of the accused has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.”
The teenager spent more than a month in prison before she was granted bail at the end of August, but has not been allowed to leave the island. She could face up to a year in jail and a 1,700 euro (£1,500) fine when she is sentenced but her lawyers have asked for a suspended sentence.
Judge Michalis Papathanasiou adjourned sentencing to January 7.
In a message published by the family’s lawyers just before today’s ruling, the woman’s parents wrote that they were “hopeful” she would be allowed home.
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