Cyprus court adjourns Brit teen’s ‘false’ rape case for one week

PARALIMNI: A Cyprus court has adjourned for one week the legal proceedings against a 19-year-old British woman who faces a public nuisance charge after admitting to falsely accusing a dozen Israelis of raping her at a hotel.

Andreas Pittadjis, the lawyer for the British woman, says a judge granted his request for the adjournment until August 7 so that he and his client can pore over all the evidence that police investigators have amassed.

Pittadjis said his client will “most likely” enter a plea to the charge at her next court appearance, but would not say how she would plead. The charge carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a 1,700 euro fine. The lawyer said the woman has consented to remain in police detention until August 7.

Pittadjis was highly critical of leaked video footage allegedly showing the British woman having sex with several young men, calling the leak “a much more serious criminal offence” than the charge his client faces.

Cyprus police on Sunday freed the remaining seven of 12 Israelis who were initially arrested on July 17 after the British woman said she was raped at the same hotel where she and the suspects were staying.

Police have said the woman voluntarily recanted her rape allegation. The Cyprus News Agency reported that the woman allegedly told investigators she filed the rape report because she was “angry and insulted” that some of the Israelis allegedly recorded video of her having sex with a number of them.