FIVE men accused of abducting and gang-raping a British tourist in Ayia Napa have been acquitted.
The men, all aged 19 or 20, were charged by Cypriot cops after a “highly-distressed” woman, 20, said she was violently sexually attacked.
AFPWomen’s rights activists deploy a banner in front of Famagusta district court[/caption]
AFPCypriot police cars transport Israeli tourists to the Famagusta district court in 2023[/caption]
The 20-year-old Brit claimed she was dragged into a room at the Fedrania Gardens Hotel
She told cops she was taken “by force” to a hotel room by at least five Israeli men on September 3, 2023.
But the five have now been acquitted with all the charges dismissed, including two counts of rape.
The court said the woman’s account “lacked coherence and contained numerous substantial contradictions”.
It said that the woman’s claim she was kidnapped was not credible, given the presence of over 100 people, including her close friend whose testimony contradicted this, at a pool party, Philenews reports.
The judges said: “The position that she was shouting for help during the incident is contradicted by witnesses from the adjacent room, who were determined to have been in a position to hear anyone shouting.”
The acquitted five are Arab-Israelis from a town near Acre and were hauled before a three-member panel of judges in Famagusta district court on Cyprus.
They claimed they had “consensual sex” to the court.
Michael Polak, who heads the UK-based legal aid group Justice Abroad, told The Sun in 2023: “The young lady in this case is determined to make sure that justice is done.
“It was a horrifically violent incident and she wants to make sure that no one else suffers the same again.”
The court found the woman had consumed MDMA, but determined the quantity was not enough “to remove her ability to consent”.
Cops investigated the possibility of more men being present during the alleged attack, but the court heart testimony from the hotel receptionist who contradicted the belief.
The woman had physical injuries on her body when she made the complaint to police.
But the court concluded it could not be determined whether they were caused before or “during consensual contact”.
The arrests came four years after a notorious case in which a British holiday girl was thrown into jail for five months in Cyprus accused of making up claims that she was gang raped by Israelis.
ReutersA police van carrying the five Israelis[/caption]
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