Five Israeli Men Acquitted of Rape Charges in Cypru
A Cyprus court has cleared five Israeli nationals of all charges relating to the alleged gang rape of a 20-year-old British woman.
Five Israeli men accused of gang raping a British woman in Cyprus have been acquitted of all charges by the Famagusta Criminal Court. The men, aged 19 to 20 and from the town of Majd al-Krum, were found not guilty on multiple counts, including rape, sexual abuse, forced sexual intercourse, sexual harassment, and abduction.
The alleged incident occurred in September 2023 in a hotel room near Ayia Napa. The woman reported to police that she had been sexually assaulted by the group during a party. The trial began in October 2023 and was partly held behind closed doors.
Throughout the trial, the defendants maintained their innocence, denying all allegations.
In its ruling, the three-judge panel said the woman’s testimony was inconsistent and unreliable, particularly regarding the identification of the accused and the sequence of events. The judges acknowledged that misidentification can happen in traumatic situations but found her overall account to lack credibility due to multiple contradictions.
The court cast doubt on her statement that she was dragged away from a party of about 100 people. A friend of the woman testified that she willingly went upstairs to a room with another individual, which contradicted her claims.
Toxicology reports showed the woman had consumed alcohol and narcotics including MDA and MDMA, but the court concluded she was not intoxicated to a degree that impaired her ability to consent. She herself had described feeling only "slightly dizzy" at the time.
Her account of shouting for help during the alleged assault was also questioned, as two people in an adjacent room testified that they heard nothing.
The court highlighted further inconsistencies in her statements to police, noting that she initially claimed non-consensual sex with one man, later changing that number to two. In her first formal report, she said three men were involved in sexual acts, while identifying five people in the room. In a later statement, she claimed all five men assaulted her.
Medical evidence also failed to conclusively support her allegations. The court noted that abrasions found on her body could not be definitively linked to non-consensual sex and may have resulted from previous consensual encounters.
Ultimately, the court found the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt, leading to the full acquittal of the five defendants.
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