A British teenager has been given a four-month suspended sentence after she was found guilty of lying about gang-rape in Cyprus.
The 19-year-old hugged her family and left court weeping after she was sentenced for public mischief. Her sentence was suspended for three years, and she has been ordered to pay €148 (£125) in legal fees. The teenager now plans to return to the UK.
Women’s rights groups protested outside court ahead of the sentencing. Speaking to the crowd outside court, the teenager’s mother said: “I just want to thank each and every one of you for turning up today, having belief, having faith and making sure we get justice.”
The 19-year-old was convicted following a trial after going back on a claim that she was raped in a hotel room in July by a group of Israeli youths. The woman has said Cypriot police made her falsely confess to lying about the incident at a hotel – something police have denied.
Lewis Power QC, defending, told the BBC :
“We will be seeking an expedited appeal to the Supreme Court of Cyprus and we will also be considering going to the European Court of Human Rights. We do not feel we have had justice in terms of how the trial progressed, the manner in which it was conducted, the initial police investigation and the fact that we feel she did not receive a fair trial.”
During sentencing, the judge said he was “troubled” about the case.
All the evidence shows that she had lied and prevented the police from doing other serious jobs.
Twelve people were arrested and seven of them were there for at least 10 days. That was also a serious offence.
Her psychological state, her youth, that she has been away from her family, her friends and academic studies this year.
This has led me to decide to give her a second chance and suspend the sentence for three years.
When the Israeli youths returned to the Ben Gurion airport they popped champagne and sang: “The Brit is a whore.” There have been accusations that these youths were related to senior Israeli officials and that Cyprus wanted to keep them happy with a massive gas pipeline in the works. Despite initial sympathy popular opinion in Israel has turned against these youths with many commenting that their behaviour brought shame on the country and has seen programmes questioning the values of youths in modern Israel.
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
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