'There is enough evidence to send them to jail': The debate over the rape of the young British woman in Cyprus - Walla! news

In the video: Nir Yeslovitch, lawyer for the boys suspected of rape in Cyprus: "I will do everything possible to reach early release" / Walla!

In the small courtroom of the Famagusta District Court in the town of Paralimni in Cyprus, some relatives of those accused of raping the young British woman in Ayia Napa were present on Monday. The prosecutor revealed to the judge the indictment attributing to the five young Israelis offenses of rape in addition to other serious sexual offenses, while abusing and violating the honor of the young woman. She noted that these were serious offenses and that the prosecution did not agree to their release on bail. "They can pressure witnesses to retract their police testimony," she said.

She described the young woman's testimony, said that she recognized the defendants, that they pulled her by the hand into their room by force, and that later on the day of the rape she went to the police and gave her version from which she quoted in the courtroom.

"I was at the pool with my friends. A man came up to me and touched me from behind. When I got out of the pool, he followed me, grabbed me, pulled me into his room, opened the door with his key and pushed me in, pressed me on the bed and tried to take off my bathing suit," she said. "I tried to run away but he pushed me onto the bed. Then someone knocked on the door, he went to open it for them and two more came in."

"He pulled me into his room." Ayia Napa, Archives/Yoav Etiel

She described how, in the process, one pulled her hair, and quoted the main points of her testimony. "There is enough evidence to send them to jail," the prosecutor argued before the judge after her theories continued in the ongoing rape and detailed the alleged role played by each of the defendants. She told the court that the young woman, who had been a virgin until that horrific incident, had cleaned herself with the sheets.

"They saw the blood and were frightened. Until then, I hadn't had sex with anyone," she told investigators. The prosecutor added that a doctor's examination of her does clearly corroborate this claim, which also explains the large amount of blood found in the room. The prosecutor said that one of the hotel security guards said that when he arrived at the room, two people tried to clean the floor and the bed and that he also saw blood on the wall in the bathroom.

"When she thought she could leave the room, she went down the stairs and told a friend everything that had happened," the prosecutor added. "There is one witness, a staff member from the hotel, who saw her after the party, did not remember when and when he asked her what happened she started crying, he asked if anyone had done anything to her, and he understood from the answer that it was something about rape. Another witness said that a crying girl came to the reception and climbed down from a second-floor balcony and said she had been raped."

More in Walla!

Lawyer for suspects in Ayia Napa: "Another suspect filmed the act - and was released"

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"He realized she had been raped." Pagmosta District Court / Yoav Etiel

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Another hearing on the bail application is expected tomorrow. The trial is set to begin on October 5. He is expected to be heard before a three-judge panel. "Today, the prosecutor laid before the court the facts of a horrific gang rape," LaValle says. British lawyer Michael Pollack of Justice Abroad, which represents the 20-year-old Briton, said: "The young woman remains determined to see justice done in this case and ensure the same thing does not happen to other women."

At the same time, in Britain, a crowdfunding campaign is slowly advancing to help the young woman, who is desperate for help with the legal expenses that have already been imposed on her and that she still awaits while the trial is ongoing.

"A perusal of the investigation material reveals that the investigation material collected by the police is full of holes like Swiss cheese," says Lavalle! In response, attorney Nir Yeslovitch, who represents two of the defendants who claim that they did not come into contact with the young British woman, said, "I am confident that like the previous case in Ayia Napa of the rape that never occurred, so too will it be proven in the present case that my clients are innocent of any crime." Yannis Habris, the Cypriot-Israeli lawyer, told The Associated Press that "as things stand now, we do not believe that any crime has been committed" and that the three young men he represents will plead guilty.

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• Cyprus
• rape
• Ayia Napa