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Cyprus court acquits five Israeli men accused of raping British woman

Cyprus court acquits five Israeli men accused of raping British woman

The Guardian01-04-2025

A Cyprus court's acquittal of five men accused of abducting and raping a British woman in the resort of Ayia Napa has been met with outrage as calls mount for the verdict to be challenged.
Dismissing the charges on Monday, the three-member district court in Paralimni ruled the testimony of the 20-year-old had not been credible because it 'lacked coherence and contained numerous substantial contradictions'. The defendants, Israelis aged between 19 and 20, claimed sexual contact with the woman had been consensual.
But her lawyer, Michael Polak, described the assertion as absurd. 'The young lady in this case is gay, any suggestion that she voluntarily agreed to group sex with men she had never met before, who were speaking in a different language, is ridiculous,' he told the Guardian. 'She has been left completely distraught by the court's verdict today. It was one of the hardest phone calls I have ever had to make.'
All five accused had been remanded in custody since the alleged incident on 3 September 2023. On Monday, they were allowed to walk free with lawyer Nir Yaslovitzh, who represented some of the men, telling Israel's Channel 12: 'It is a brave decision that completely rejected the complainant's version and completely accepts our clients' version.'
Polak, who directs the London-based legal aid group Justice Abroad, said the case was further proof of a sexist attitude in Cyprus's 'patriarchal' justice system. 'Recently, the European court of human rights ruled that there is no effective protection for women subject to sexual offences in the Republic of Cyprus,' he added.
'Unfortunately, nothing I have seen shows that there have been any improvements in this area.'
He did not rule out the case being taken to the European court of human rights.
In February, another British woman who also claimed she had been gang-raped in Ayia Napa by more than a dozen Israeli men in July 2019 won a 'monumental victory' over Cypriot authorities after the Strasbourg-based tribunal ruled they had 'failed in their obligation to effectively investigate the applicant's complaint of rape'.
Judge Michalis Papathanasiou, sitting in Paralimni on Monday, had been the judge on the district court who had overseen the earlier case. Last year, the island's supreme court not only overturned his decision but, in an unusual rebuke, criticised the way he had conducted proceedings, agreeing with the defendant's lawyers that the trial process had been 'manifestly unfair' and his 'interruptions and interventions unjustified and inadmissible'.
The Briton, who cannot be legally identified, had been described as 'highly distressed' when, giving testimony to police, she recounted how she had been 'taken by force' during a party around the pool area of her hotel to her room and sexually assaulted.
Women's groups and campaigners voiced outrage as they reacted to the ruling, with some raising the prospect of the close diplomatic ties between Cyprus and Israel influencing Monday's judgment.
'What this shows is that Cypriot courts haven't reflected at all on their past mistakes,' said Susana Pavlou, who heads the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies in Nicosia, the island's capital. 'We are shocked and appalled.'
Pavlou said she had been particularly angered by the court's argument that, although the woman had taken class A drugs and consumed a 'significant amount' of alcohol, neither were enough to remove 'her ability to consent'.
'That was particularly shocking,' she said. 'It is clear, more than ever, that judicial authorities in Cyprus continue to be influenced by stereotypical attitudes and beliefs in relation to victims of sexual violence and rape.' Research, she said, had shown that victims of sexual violence were 'often considered unreliable witnesses' because of the lack of psychological and legal support navigating the judicial process.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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The jury was reminded of the evidence she and her defence have given, including that she was 'worn out', had 'bad period pains' and was not her 'normal bubbly self' in the week leading up to June 28. Lecka has admitted she was hooked on cannabis and vapes and was staying up until 3am with her boyfriend. 'I was addicted to smoking weed and I was addicted to him,' she told jurors. Ms Lecka said when she got the job at Riverside in January 2024 she would 'smoke cannabis quite regularly with my boyfriend'. She added: 'At that time I was really addicted to vapes, I would smoke two little crystal disposables a day. I was vaping in nursery. Because if I did not smoke I would get agitated and fed up. I couldn't keep asking to go to the toilet. Any opportunity I would take. I would be really moody and fed up. 'It would be a couple of puffs and then I'd put it away… I would put it in my bra.' 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'This is not an exercise in setting up excuses, it is explanations why she accepted on some occasions she crossed the line.' When giving evidence, Lecka repeatedly insisted that it was not her 'intention to cause or inflict pain' and that she did not accept 'inappropriate behaviour or rough handling'. But Ms Ayling, for the prosecution, said: 'It is clear her actions are deliberate or at the very last careless, but on most occasions we say deliberate. 'There are, of course, some clips where Ms Lecka - as we put it - keeps going back for more.' Ms Ayling told jurors it was down to them to decide if the alleged assaults are 'pinches' - or 'innocuous or innocent squeezes' which the defendant claims. The trial has heard that Lecka was working as an agency worker at Little Munchkins on October 19 2023 when the first incident of alleged child cruelty took place. At around 3.45pm, a baby room leader went to change a child's nappies and claims she heard Lecka tell another infant: 'You are so annoying.' The colleague claims she then heard the baby 'screaming' and 'crying' but Lecka claimed she didn't know what had happened when she was confronted. While consoling the child, the staff member claims Lecka picked the baby up and started 'feeling her thigh with her thumb'. When the staff member checked the baby, they found a 'big red lumpy patch on her upper thigh' and described it as a 'pinch mark'. The staff member then alerted her boss to the incident and asked for him to check the CCTV. Describing Lecka's behaviour, she said: 'She was sweating and drinking lots of water. I said "Don't worry we can check the camera". She was walking around the room, fanning herself and drinking water.' The court was told the CCTV wasn't working that day and when she saw it a week later, the view of Lecka and the child was blocked by a bookcase. The staff member told the court: 'The managers told me they told the local authority but I don't know if they did. I don't think the nursery took action. 'After a week, Roksana was back at the nursery. They were not happy with me using the word pinching,' she said. 'They said I used the wrong word, pinching. I felt they did not deal with the situation right.' The staff member reported Lecka to the police when she found about the other allegations she was facing at her new job at Riverside Nursery, which she joined in January 2024. Summing up on Wednesday, the judge reminded jurors of the alleged child cruelty against the 17 children Lecka has denied wilfully harming. Jurors heard from former colleagues of Lecka as well as from Dr Stephen Rose, a consultant paediatrician whom was the crown's expert witness. He had studied the CCTV clips and photographs taken by parents on both days where there is footage and days where there is not. When asked for his expert opinion on a child who Lecka allegedly pulled out a crib and pinched and grabbed him, Dr Rose said the 'purple discolouration would be consistent with a pinch mark.' He said: 'It would be difficult to think of a different mechanism. In order to cause bruising there must be damage, rupture to the capillaries, there must be force, the force would be provided by fingers in a pinch. Dr Rose said it was a 'non accidental injury' and that a bruise caused by pinching a toddler would be 'painful because significant force is required to rupture capillaries.' Ms Ayling said: 'We suggest on any occasion you find there is bruising that evidence applies. Significant force is required to rupture capillaries and it is that rupture that caused the bruise. She added: 'Given the fact the defendant had to be using significant force to cause bruising where she did, that she would have seen the children's obvious distress when she assaulted them or ill treated them, yet carried on, it would be obvious that unnecessary suffering was likely to result each and every time she acted in same way. 'Or she may not have cared either way whether it resulted in suffering.' The defence said there were no safeguarding concerns about Ms Lecka before June 28. The head teacher at Riverside told the court how she brought Lecka pink roses to say how well she was doing in late May or early June. But the prosecution say the 'punching' incident on June 28, plus the 'bad treatment' of other children that day, 'gave staff grave cause for concern'. The head teacher reported the matter to the local authority, and the police attended on July 3 and began trawling through the CCTV. In closing arguments, Ms Piercy said there were 400 hours of CCTV which a 'small army of officers painstakingly reviewed from every angle.' 'Every step she took, every child she picked up, every nappy she changed', she added. Ms Piercy added: 'In our society, there is particular venom reserved to those who anyway mistreat the youngest and most vulnerable of our community.' 'Roksana has pleaded guilty to a number of offences which fall into that', she said, adding jurors 'will not like what she admitted to doing' and that it will have 'discoloured' her character. 'You are not here to like Roksana Lecka, you are here to judge her fairly on the evidence and in accordance with your oaths,' she said. Jurors were told most of the alleged incidents took place in the 'baby room' at Riverside Nursery, while some occurred in the 'baby sleep room' where infants lie in cots. The nursery follows the Montessori method of teaching, involving children's 'natural interests' instead of formal practices. The trial continues.

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