British teen’s Ayia Napa confession not up to par

A British woman accused of making false rape claims in Ayia Napa after signing a confession is fighting back in court, pointing to grammar errors to prove she never wrote a statement recanting the initial allegations.

Last week, according to The Sun, the 19-year-old female defendant denied ever writing a statement to retract her story, telling the judge that the written confession was riddled with grammatical errors.

“This is not in proper English, it’s greeklish,” the woman said.

The rape accuser was arrested in July on public mischief charges after police said she had confessed to making false statements and wrongly accusing the Israeli teens of gang rape in a hotel room in Ayia Napa.

Police said they had become suspicious of her allegations after viewing at least one video that reportedly showed the woman having consensual sex with one of the suspects. A total of twelve male suspects in their upper teens were detained were subsequently released, with police saying they found nothing incriminating against them.

But the rape accuser claims she was coerced by an investigator to retract her claims of rape, while her defence told the court that more forensic tests should have been done to retrieve deleted videos and messages associated with the rape accusations.

“We say that a rape did occur and there has been an investigation which falls way below any proper standards of investigation,” Defence lawyer Michael Polak told reporters.

“Where are the What’s Up messages, where are the text messages? Any proper investigator would have taken those messages,” Polak said, adding that “it is amazing that we don’t have that evidence in this case.”

At least one video found on a former suspect’s phone reportedly appeared on a porn site showing the British teen sitting on top of one of the suspects as they two appeared to be having consensual sex. Reports said the video also showed other suspects walking in and the female asking her sex partner to get rid of them.

Cypriot police has refuted the claims, saying the rape accuser retracted the story on her own volition, adding that she had told investigators she was upset that a video of her having sex had been shared online.

Earlier this month, a 36-page forensic report was entered into court evidence by the prosecution in a Paralimni courtroom, prompting the judge to allow for two weeks so that the defence could prepare.

Police are alleging in their report that the defendant had knowingly made false statements to police on July 17, citing a statement on July 28 in which they say the woman recanted her story and withdrew the allegations.

Laughably dodgy English

The Sun reported one example from the woman’s confession suggesting it was not written in “proper English.”

“That night I discovered them recording me doing sexual intercourse,” one statement read, with the British teen denying that she ever wrote it.

Defence lawyer Michael Polak told The Sun “we are talking about a highly educated girl and it’s written in laughably dodgy English.”

Police insist that the statements were her own and that she had admitted to fabricating the sexual assault.

They also cited an incident during the interrogation when the teen allegedly told investigators she had been raped when she was 13 but then retracted the statement when they asked to contact her psychologist in the UK. The defendant reportedly denied making that statement.

The defendant’s family has so far collected £40,000 to cover expenses while the target was reported to be £50,000.

Contributions came from supporters, mainly British nationals but also Israeli Jews, who have been following the story. Some of them said the male teens had disrespected the girl and ought to have been found guilty for posting sex videos without her consent.

[Kathimerini Cyprus]