A BRITISH woman who claims she was brutally gang-raped by five men has faced her alleged attackers for the first time in court.
The 20-year-old, who cannot be identified, was allegedly raped by tourists in Ayia Napa last year.
Five Israelis, aged between 19 and 20, are accused of raping the young woman multiple times in the party resort.
Her lawyer Michael Polak told The Sun when the trial began last year: “She is determined to see justice done.
“She is determined that no one suffers in the same way.”
The Briton’s testimony in Cyprus’ Famagusta district court comes more than five months after she told police of how she was forcibly dragged into a hotel room in Ayia Napa and raped multiple times.
Prosecutors said she has since been given maximum protection to hide her identity.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, court insiders said “in a very rare step” the evidence would be heard “behind closed doors”.
One person, on condition of anonymity, said: “Unprecedented steps have been taken to make sure there are no leaks.
“What is said in court will remain in court because it is deemed so sensitive.”
The woman is understood to be prepared to give testimony until the end of the week “if need be”.
Cops said the young tourist was “highly distressed” when she reported the alleged attack, claiming that she had met the suspects on September 2 at a pool party at the Federana Gardens Hotel.
The accused men have denied the accusations against them and said they had “consensual” sex with the woman.
All of the suspects, residents of the northern Israeli Arab town of Majd al-Krum near Acre, have been remanded in custody in Cyprus’ central prison since October.
District court judge Petros Theophilou refused to grant their bail, ruling that there was “reasonable suspicion” that the men were implicated in the alleged incident.
The young woman picked out the suspects from a police lineup.
Hours later, she told cops that she had been “grabbed by the hand, pulled by the hair” and rounded upon.
Her testimony, which The Sun has seen, is too graphic to publish.
DNA evidence linking two of the accused to the alleged attack was last month deemed inadmissible by the court, after judges found that standard police processes had not been followed when the evidence was collected.
But all five men still face charges of rape, abduction, sexual harassment, and indecent assault.
A diplomat who is closely following the proceedings said: “Precisely because the DNA evidence was thrown out in the case of two of the suspects everything now rests on witness statements.
“That is why what happens in that court room this week is so important.”
