Six month ordeal of British woman 'raped' by 12 Israelis Update

Six month ordeal of British woman 'raped' by 12 Israelis

July 2019

The young woman from Derbyshire heads to Ayia Napa for a holiday before she is due to start university in September. She meets an Israeli footballer and they have a holiday romance. 

Wednesday July 17 2019

The 19-year-old goes to the police and claims that she was pinned down and raped by up to 12 men, including her new lover, in the early hours of that morning. 

These dozen men, aged between 15 and 22, are arrested and remanded in custody.  

Thursday July 17

Five of the men are freed after police say there is no DNA evidence linking them to the alleged rape.

Saturday July 27

The teenager, who had been told to stay in Cyprus, was asked to give a statement to police. She says she is but is then subjected to eight hours of question - and a request for a lawyer is not agreed to.

She was then charged 'giving a false statement over an imaginary offence' after giving a written confession to detectives

Sunday July 28

The remaining seven Israeli men are released and rushed back to their home country  

Tuesday July 30

The teenager appears in court and is remanded in custody having been formally charged with 'public mischief' - an offence for lying to police

Tuesday August 6

She then revokes her confession claiming she was coerced into giving it

Tuesday August 27

After five weeks in a Cyprus jail she is bailed. She cannot leave the island and must report in to police before her trial 

Monday October 15

Her trial begins. The case is before a judge - not a jury as pressure grows in Cyprus and abroad for the case to be dismissed

Thursday December 12

The final judgment is delayed until December 30 - meaning she must spend Christmas on the island. Her mother says she has PTSD and is depressed 

Monday December 30

Judge Michalis Papathanasiou finds her guilty based on the police evidence and her confession. 

Tuesday January 7 2020 

The judge said he was giving her a "second chance" and suspended her prison sentence.  Her lawyer Lewis Power QC said she will be returning home later on Tuesday but said her legal team would be challenging her conviction and were prepared to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.  

Briton, 19, is free to go home - but remains a convicted criminal after presidential pardon failed to materialise

The teenager at the centre of the controversial Ayia Napa rape case is heading back to Britain but has a criminal record.

She was given a suspended sentence and her passport back today after the judge in Famagusta opted not to jail her.  

Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades was reportedly not willing to let the 19-year-old go to prison and would have pardoned her to ensure she got free passage to the UK because of the international furore over her case.  

He has not needed to intervene meaning her criminal record remains, for now. 

Human rights lawyer, Mark Stephens, a partner at London law firm Howard Kennedy LLP called the sentence 'not ideal - but a practical solution because it allows her to 'come home'.

He added: 'She should never have been prosecuted or convicted'. 

Ritsa Pekri, the girl's Cypriot lawyer, said the appeal against her conviction will be filed by the end of the week. 

Three Appeal Court judges sitting in Nicosia will hear the case which is expected to last two days. 

Pekri said appeals usually take a year but given the publicity surrounding this case it will be fast tracked.