Five Israelis acquitted all charges on Monday in a Cyprus court on alleged gang rape of a 20-year-old British woman.
Famagusta Criminal Court cleared five defendants two counts of rape, one sexual abuse, one forced sex, one sexual harassment and one aid.
She told police she was sexually assaulted and raped by five Israeli citizens in September 2023. The five accused were Israeli men between the ages of 19 and 20 from the town of Majid al-Kurum.
The trial began in October 2023 at Famagusta Criminal Court just north of Ayia Napa, where a British woman reported that the attack had occurred.
They denied all the charges.
In its decision, the court said that women’s testimony was unreliable and there were contradictions and weaknesses related to identifying the individual and the behavior they were accused of.
A panel of three judges who identified the misidentification found that although in such circumstances it was “not unusual”, there were some contradictions in her testimony.
The court ruled her statement, claiming she was being dragged by a party of 100 people. A friend testified that she simply saw her go to the room with others, so she was not persuasive.
Lab tests showed that women consumed a significant amount of alcohol and were under the influence of drugs (MDA and MDMA), but the court found this to be not enough to deprive her of her ability to agree to sex.
The court also ruled that she allegedly cried for help on alleged gang rape as two individuals in the adjacent room said they had heard nothing.
The woman told officers she was having consensual sex with one person, but later statements said she had changed that to two.
In her first statement, the judge reported that sexual conduct was carried out against her by three individuals and that she identified five men in the room. In a subsequent statement, she reported that five men had engaged in sexual activity.
The court also concluded that the abrasions found on the woman’s body had not been maintained previously and could not be safely determined whether it could be the result of consensual intercourse.
Part of the trial was held behind closed doors.
