The Famagusta Criminal Court on Monday announced the full acquittal of five defendants who had been accused of abduction, rape, and other acts of sexual abuse against a woman. According to the court’s decision, the testimony of the complainant was found to contain significant contradictions and substantial inconsistencies.
According to clarifications provided to CNA by a police source, the case involved a complaint made by a 20-year-old British woman against five Israeli men, alleging that the incident occurred on 3 September 2023 in Ayia Napa.
In its statement, the Criminal Court noted that following a hearing held partially behind closed doors, the defendants (numbered 1 through 5) were acquitted of all charges. These included two counts of rape, one count of sexual abuse by penetration, one count of coercion to engage in sexual intercourse or acts of a sexual nature, one count of sexual harassment, and one count of abduction.
The court stated from the outset that although the complainant’s testimony had inherent weaknesses regarding the identification and recognition of the individuals involved, it acknowledged that under the circumstances described by the complainant, such difficulties in identification were not unnatural. The court explained that the credibility of her testimony would not be assessed purely based on the issue of identification, but also on the substance of the events she recounted, stripped of associations to specific individuals, to allow for a genuine credibility assessment.
Furthermore, the court noted that during the evaluation of the testimony, the complainant’s version of events lacked coherence and was riddled with major contradictions.
Specifically, the court identified a contradiction between the complainant’s testimony and the undisputed testimony of a police constable regarding how the identification process was conducted. Additional contradictions were found in relation to the actual identifications made by the complainant.
The court also emphasised that although such inconsistencies are not necessarily unusual, what raised serious doubts about the complainant’s credibility were the vague and erratic explanations she gave to account for those contradictions, which ultimately left the court unable to understand why she had made such conflicting statements regarding the identifications.
Moreover, the court took into account that the complainant was found, according to state lab tests, to have been under the influence of a significant amount of alcohol as well as Class A drugs (MDA and MDMA). However, it was also noted that this was not to a degree that would have rendered her incapable of giving consent. In fact, the complainant herself stated that the substances had made her feel only mildly dizzy.
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Source: CNA
