Supreme Court due to rule on rape case appeal on Monday

[Paphos Life]

The Supreme Court's decision on whether to uphold or remove the conviction of a young British woman who was accused of lying about being gang-raped, will be important for the recognition of fair trial provisions in Cypriot courts, her lawyers have said.Due Monday, the decision will respond to an appeal made by the woman's team of British and Cypriot lawyers in September....

Read the article and chat about it below...

[Kili01]

Let's hope that this appeal will succeed. The case has underscored serious flaws in the justice system here.

Dee

[WHL]

Lets hope the truth comes out, but im thinking some will always have their one sided prejudiced views, what ever the outcome.

[Kili01]

If you mean me, of course I also want to know the truth.
But irrespective of that, I was very concerned about the way the young girl was treated while in police custody. She should have been allowed to have a translator present, and a lawyer to advise her. Instead of which she was pressured to sign a statement not understanding what she was signing.
That seems to be the crux of her problem. Not the fact she may have been gang raped beforehand.

Dee

[Jim B]

Lets hope the truth comes out, but im thinking some will always have their one sided prejudiced views, what ever the outcome.

The boys charged and acquitted were very well connected with the political elite of their home country and it appears it was expedient at the time to get them out of Cyprus.
Even in their home country there were demonstrations in favour of the young girl as many there believe pressure was put on the Cypriot government to release them.
Many Cypriots also believed there was a lot more to what happened and that the girl was just a pawn in a bigger game.
I'm the last person you could call prejudicial but I have my doubts over the verdict.
I really hope she wins her appeal and I have every faith in the Cypriot Higgh Court to deliver the right verdict.

[Jimgym]

What a horrific ordeal, firstly what was alleged to have happened and then going through it all once again in court.

[Dominic]

My only hopes are that the truth comes out, whatever that is, and that guilty parties are punished accordingly. Hopefully the increased spotlight this case has got will ensure the truth does see the light of day.

[Dominic]

Lets hope the truth comes out, but im thinking some will always have their one sided prejudiced views, what ever the outcome.

The boys charged and acquitted were very well connected with the political elite of their home country and it appears it was expedient at the time to get them out of Cyprus.
Even in their home country there were demonstrations in favour of the young girl as many there believe pressure was put on the Cypriot government to release them.
Many Cypriots also believed there was a lot more to what happened and that the girl was just a pawn in a bigger game.
I'm the last person you could call prejudicial but I have my doubts over the verdict.
I really hope she wins her appeal and I have every faith in the Cypriot Higgh Court to deliver the right verdict.

Statements like this imply that you already know what the right verdict is. How do you know this?

[Jim B]

I would read my post again.
Firstly I said I have my "doubts" over the original verdict and secondly I said I have "every faith" in the Cypriot High Court to deliver the right verdict which is not implying anything, none of my comments were cast in stone.
I know I personally believe after reading alot of information on the case there was a miscarriage of justice and like everyone else I'm entitled to my opinion or no opinion as the case may be.
I'm not saying I'm right I'm saying what I believe.

[memory man]

Supreme Court overturns conviction in British woman’s rape trial



The Supreme Court on Monday overturned a conviction against a young British woman who was accused of lying about being gang-raped in 2019.

The decision was in response to an appeal made by the woman’s team of British and Cypriot lawyers in September.

The woman was handed a suspended four-month prison sentence last year after being found guilty of public mischief for reporting she was raped in Ayia Napa in 2019.

In July 2019, she told police that she had been raped by around 12 Israeli tourists aged 15 to 22, but was charged when she retracted her initial complaint a little over a week later.

She has since maintained she was pressured by Famagusta police officers to withdraw her statement, and her team of lawyers issued an appeal to the Supreme Court, arguing the conviction is unsafe.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/01/31/supr ... ial-video/

[Kili01]

I would like to have been able to share the report in the Cyprus Mail on line about the findings
of the judges of the Supreme Court who have now acquitted the British Girl of all the charges made against her by the police who interviewed her and held her in custody, and to the judges who were complicit in making a wrong verdict that she was lying and therefore guilty.
This case has really shown up a flawed justice system here and news of this will go viral with the use of social media.
What a relief for her and her family. I admit that I always believed she she should never have been charged.
I also hope that appropriate measures will be taken to make sure that women unfortunate enough to have been raped will be treated in a much more humane way in future in Cyprus.

Dee

[memory man]

UPDATE:-

https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/01/31/supr ... ial-video/

[Jim B]

Very good news.

[memory man]

Police to review their handling of Napa rape case

Police on Wednesday said they will investigate whether mistakes were made in their handling of the 2019 Ayia Napa gang rape case after the supreme court overturned the conviction of the woman who filed and later retracted a complaint she had been raped.

Speaking on state radio, police spokesman Christos Andreou said police are not infallible and are in the process of studying the supreme court’s ruling.

He added that police were following procedures in accordance with a court’s decisions and will investigate whether there were mistakes or omissions during their investigation of the rape case.

His statement came after the supreme court on Monday overturned the conviction of the now 21-year-old British woman who was handed a four-month suspended jail sentence for causing public mischief to 12 Israelis after claiming they had raped her.

Monday’s ruling concerned whether the woman had misled authorities and given a false statement and not the alleged rape itself, which was reiterated throughout the court proceedings.

Michael Polak, who was part of the team of lawyers representing the woman, said the decision was a “watershed moment” for the woman “but also for others around the world in similar positions.”

He added the “woman was not only mistreated” by the police but was also put through a “manifestly unfair” trial, as the Supreme Court found.

There have been calls on police to reopen the case as a rape complaint while there have protests in the woman’s support throughout the process. The spokesman would not speculate on what police will do.

The British woman, who has not been officially named, reported her rape by a group of Israeli tourists aged 15 to 22, in July 2019, but was charged when she retracted her initial complaint a little over a week later.

The 12 Israeli youths were detained for questioning but swiftly released after the woman withdrew her accusation.

She has since maintained that police coerced her into retracting her initial claim by interrogating her for hours while she was traumatised and in the absence of a lawyer or translator.

Initially, Cyprus police denied any mishandling of the case.

In November 2020, police underwent training on how to handle rape allegations by two sexual violence experts, who have said “mistakes were made” with the allegations of the British woman.

A total of 41 officers, including two from the SBA, took part in two cycles of interactive trainings held by Scottish rape counsellor Isabelle Kerr and former police detective Alison Eaton.

“I think they understood that mistakes were made. That’s why people have been welcoming to us because nobody wants to make mistakes over and over again,” Kerr had told the Cyprus Mail.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/02/02/poli ... rape-case/

[Kili01]

Well that's very interesting! I hope very much that the police will see the shortcomings in the way that they handle rape cases. To most people it must seem that they made some glaring mistakes. In fact the way they behaved reflects an old culture here that women do not necessarily get the correct treatment, as in previous rape cases here which have been reported in the media here, it has often seemed to me that men were usually let off. While the poor woman involved was considered to have led on the man.. and was therefore getting what he anticipated would happen.
The whole police attitude and treatment of rape cases needs to change. Hope it will.

Dee