Cypriot authorities dropped rape charges against 12 Israeli teenagers after they viewed footage showing the British woman who’d made the allegations asking for the door of the hotel room where she engaged in sexual acts with the group to be closed, one of the accused has claimed.
The woman, who has not been named, is facing charges in Cyprus of public mischief after withdrawing her testimony – but her lawyer state disseminating the video is a bigger offence than she’s facing, and his client is the real victim in the dispute.
‘So Happy’
Yisrael David, one of the 12, has told Israeli media of his delight at being released, believing he and his friends were destined to spend a lengthy period in prison before ending up in court, where it would be “our word against hers”. When a prison guard visited him to say he was going home, he thought it was a joke, and didn’t believe him.
“I was so happy at that moment, I went quickly so that they wouldn't change their minds. We saw from the beginning lies in her version, but the police didn't pay attention to this,” he said.
Yisrael went on to reveal some of his fellow countrymen and women were critical of the group’s public celebration at being freed, but he said while the group’s ‘success’ wasn’t comparable to a “Nobel prize”, they escaped a situation “that took away our freedom, we are free people now and this is something that should be celebrated”.
Nonetheless, he acknowledged he saw things during his trip to the island reminiscent of Sodom and Gomorrah, and he’d learned from the incident. In particular, he believes the group shouldn’t have filmed the dalliance.
“It wasn't right to take those films, the woman's respect should be guarded no matter what, with whom, where she is from, what race, and what kind of sex. The woman must be respected and that is something that with God's help we will get better at…The police saw the tape in which you can see that the door is being opened and instead of yelling for help and saying she was raped, she says 'close the door’. A woman who is being raped doesn't say that,” he said.
He was asleep when police arrived to arrest him – they woke him up with a “smack on the face” – and during his time in custody the group went through “difficult things”.
Suffering Bill
Andreas Pittadjis, who represents the young woman, has demanded to know who leaked the video publicly as she appeared in court 30th July, charged with public nuisance, for which she now faces a year in jail – the video has been widely shared via WhatsApp and pornographic video sites.
Pittadjis said his client was “coping well” and currently staying in a remand centre at Nicosia Central prison. Judge Tonia Nicolaou, presiding on the case, has told the court the offence wasn’t serious but “had repercussions in that there was a police investigation and 12 men were arrested”.
The nameless woman’s legal troubles may only get bigger in weeks to come however, as lawyers for three of the accused - Yaniv Habari, Nir Yaslovitzh and Yona Golub - have said their clients wish to sue the British woman for damages, resulting from anguish, libel, loss of earnings and suffering caused.
“There are twelve cases to be heard and this will be a very expensive case for her. The claims will run into millions for the suffering she put them through,” a source close to the men says.