Another rape case involving a young British tourist in Cyprus is making UK headlines with authorities accused of hushing the incident up.
According to UK media, a Scottish teenager who claims to have had her allegation of rape dismissed by police in Cyprus has turned to Police Scotland for help.
The woman alleged she was attacked by an employee of the hotel she was staying at with her partner, in Protaras in May 2019.
Local police told the Cyprus News Agency the incident had been reported on May 8, 2019, by the hotel manager who said the barman met the teenager at the hotel.
According to the statement made by the hotel manager, the girl claimed she left the hotel with the bartender when later meeting her partner she told him the man sexually assaulted her.
Paralimni police investigating the incident said the teenager made an official signed statement, saying “she does not want to file an official complaint nor does she want the bartender to be prosecuted since she does not remember too much about what had happened”.
CNA also said the barman was later sacked by the hotel.
According to her lawyers, the woman who was 17 at the time had reported the incident to police but despite being told that the case would be investigated had found out after returning to the UK that this wasn’t happening.
The Scottish woman claims she was assured by police that the case would be investigated.
She had reportedly called the British High Commission in Nicosia three weeks after leaving the island, only to be told the police never launched an investigation because, apparently, she never asked for it.
The woman sought help from police in Scotland and the Justice Abroad legal team that had also represented another English teenager who reported being gang-raped by 12 Israelis in Ayia Napa only to be found guilty of public mischief in January.
Justice Abroad organisation which has undertaken her legal representation said police in Cyprus are not cooperating, claiming that the Cypriot police “refuse” to carry out an investigation.
A Go Fund Me has been established to help the teenager cover legal costs, as well as to pay for travel and accommodation costs.
Cyprus has come under intense scrutiny for how it investigates sex crimes following the conviction of another British teen who was allegedly raped in Ayia Napa last year, with the case, however, ending with her receiving a four-month suspended jail sentence after retracting her initial police statement.
The woman has lodged an appeal against the conviction in her bid to be acquitted.
