A BRITISH teen accused of making false gang-rape allegations in Ayia Napa has been freed on bail after paying €5,000 and surrendering her passport. The woman, 19, said she had been sexually abused by 12 Israeli men in a hotel resort at the resort in Cyprus. The men were arrested on July 12 but later […]
A BRITISH teen accused of making false gang-rape allegations in Ayia Napa has been freed on bail after paying €5,000 and surrendering her passport.
The woman, 19, said she had been sexually abused by 12 Israeli men in a hotel resort at the resort in Cyprus.
The men were arrested on July 12 but later released without charge, and doubt has since been cast on the woman’s claims.
The woman spent more than a month in Nicosia’s general prison before being granted bail at a hearing on Tuesday.
She will now live in a safe house until her trial begins on October 2, and will have to report to a Nicosia police station three times a week.
Her lawyers say she only retracted her original claim after an “eight-hour ordeal” at a police station without a lawyer present, and are currently reported to be gathering “missing evidence”.
British QC Lewis Power flew to the island to represent the teenager at the hearing this week.
Speaking last week, he said: “This case is multi-faceted and is of the paramount importance in the context of the application of the Rule of Law and the European Convention on Human Rights in Cyprus as well as the protection of a British Citizen’s basic human rights whilst abroad.
“I relish the opportunity to work alongside Justice Abroad and two eminent Cypriot human rights lawyers.”
In the aftermath of the incident, a 34-second clip was published on porn website PornHub that showed the woman having sex with members of the group.
The emergence of the clip has led to calls for the men to be prosecuted under EU laws prohibiting so-called “revenge porn”.
In a statement released on Tuesday, legal aid group Justice Abroad said they were assisting a British teenager and her family.
They said: “At today’s hearing the teenager entered a not guilty plea and the matter will move towards trial.
“The teenager’s case is that she has not lied about being raped and that oppression was used by the Cypriot Police in order to get her to retract her rape allegations and that the purported retraction statement is unreliable.”
The group also said that they would look to investigate the circumstances around a changed statement that the teenager says was forced as part of an “eight-hour ordeal” without a lawyer present.
They added: “The matter has now been set for a voire dire, a procedure which involves a trial within a trial to test the reliability of evidence upon which the prosecution seeks to rely.
“This will involve the Prosecution having to prove that the retraction statement was not obtained through oppression nor circumstances which were likely to have made it unreliable to the criminal standard, beyond reasonable doubt, and if they are unable to do so, that evidence being excluded from the trial.
“The case will then proceed to trial whereby the Prosecution will be required to prove that the teenager lied about being raped, again to the standard of beyond reasonable doubt.”
After the woman’s release on bail, Justice Abroad’s Michael Polak commented: “We hope that with the proper preparation that this case requires we will be able to secure justice for her.”
A GoFundMe campaign aiming to raise £15,000 for the woman’s defence has been launched.
So far it has already topped £22,000 – with much of the money donated by Israelis.
The target has now been raised to £50,000 to pay for legal representation
One Miami-based Israeli, Aryeh Fraser, donated £7,500.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that the teenager was lured to Cyprus by a firm blasted for putting youngsters at risk in ‘unsafe’ hotels for just £1.
Summer Takeover offers ‘introduction’ holidays for those looking for work in party hotspots like Ayia Napa, Kavos and Zante in exchange for a tiny token deposit.
But it has been slammed for leaving vulnerable teenagers stranded alone and jobless in ‘high risk’ hotels.
The British woman and her family have claimed that she was pressured to withdraw her complaint by detectives, who threatened to arrest her friends for “conspiracy” if she did not comply.
All 12 Israeli men were originally arrested but all were released without charge
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