Teen 'made up' gang rape claim, Cyprus court finds, and now faces jail

The woman, 19, covers her face as she leaves the Famagusta court after her trial. Photo / AP

A 19-year-old British woman was found guilty Monday of lying about being gang-raped by 12 Israeli men while on a working vacation in Cyprus, and the judge in the case has charged her with causing "public mischief".

The woman, who has not been identified, told Cypriot police that she was attacked by the group at a hotel in Ayia Napa in July, but she retracted her statement 10 days later. She was arrested on July 28 for making a false allegation and spent more than a month in prison before being granted bail in August. The teen has been prohibited from leaving the Mediterranean island since. The men arrested in connection with the alleged attack were released without charge and returned home. The court heard no evidence from the men during the trial.

Lawyers for the defendant have accused Cypriot police of forcing the teenager to retract her original statement after seven hours of questioning without appropriate legal representation present. Police have denied the accusation. Lawyers also said the woman was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder at the time.

"People suffering PTSD can make retraction statements just to get themselves out of the situation which they find themselves," lawyer Michael Polak told the BBC after the verdict. Polak, director of Justice Abroad, a British organisation that is supporting the teen and her family, added that the conviction was "very worrying for a number of reasons".

"We maintain that the statement was given under duress and in breach of her rights, resulting in the collapse of the initial investigation and charges of public mischief being made against her," the victim's family wrote on a fundraising page that has raised more than $70,000 for her defence.

On Monday, Famagusta District Court Judge Michalis Papathanasiou said: "My conclusion is that the guilt of the accused has been proven beyond reasonable doubt."

The teen now faces up to a year in jail and a fine of 1700 euros ($2800).

Pathologist Marios Matsaki told the court during the trial that he had no doubt "violence was exercised" and that injuries displayed by the defendant were "consistent with the rape having taken place".

Matsaki highlighted in his report that the woman's injuries included "bruises to the knees, the legs, the buttocks, broken skin near the ankle, scratches up underneath the underwear, bruising to the wrist". He also said that the woman's bruises had not been measured or closely photographed during the physical examination - something he would have expected to see.

Protesters stage a demonstration outside a court house in Paralimni, Cyprus on Monday, December 30, 2019, in support of a 19 year-old British woman who was found guilty of fabricating claims that she

Matsaki expressed concern that the state pathologist's report was missing basic details about the teenager, such as her height and weight, and that her clothing was apparently not examined.

On Monday, the woman was photographed leaving court after the trial with her face covered as the hashtag #Ibelieveher trended in second place on Twitter in the United Kingdom. Many Britons expressed shock about the case, while others proclaimed solidarity with the teenager.

"The judge has been very strict," defence lawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou told the Guardian outside the court in Paralimni. "He has rejected all the witnesses of defence and our repeated requests to expedite the case. Our hope is that he will show leniency, but we will of course be appealing this judgment," she said. The defence team "respectfully" disagrees with the court's decision, she added.

"We believe there have been many violations of the procedure, and the rights of a fair trial of our client have been violated," Charalambidou told reporters. "We are planning to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, and if justice fails . . . we are planning to take our case to the European Court of Human Rights."

In an update on the family's GoFundMe page, the teen's parents said they found it "really hard" to listen to the graphic details of the case that emerged during the trial, which began in October. "No one wants to think that any of their loved ones would ever have to go through anything like this, let alone be subject to being imprisoned, then having to relive the details in an open court room, multiple times," they wrote in an update on December 8.

Sentencing is to begin on January 7.