British Woman Has Been Sentenced To

[emmie]

4 months in prison suspended for 3 years in Cyprus
What an appalling case, get raped and you end up in the dock. Hopefully she will get home asap.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51017485

[fiction-factory]

Yes- if she did get raped. It's a complicated case though as she withdrew the allegations. No rape has been proved but she has claimed she was pressured into withdrawing her allegations so that needs to be invesigated.

[emmie]

I know she was sentenced for allegedly lying about the rape, but whatever the case, she will have this matter hanging over her for ever.

[johnk]

How do you no she was raped? Were you in court as a juror?

[johnk]

Know

[emmie]

FF it may be complicated, but if she was coerced into retracting her statement then that does need investigating, but i bet it won't be..

[dannyk13]

The worst thing is that the conviction provides ammunition to the low-life who has threatened to sue her.

[emmie]

of course not, but you have to take some things on trust.
if you read about the case.

[emmie]

it is recorded that she was not given any legal representation at the outset, that is wrong on every level.

[youngmafbog]

Unfortunately it is not unknown for people to put false allegations forward, it has happened here too.

Without all the facts on the case it is impossible for any of us to make a judgement.

The Cypriots have clearly decided they want nothing more to do with the case hence the suspended sentence.

[youngmafbog]

//The worst thing is that the conviction provides ammunition to the low-life who has threatened to sue her.//

You are assuming she is innocent and he is guilty?

And just what is he going to sue her for? Is she rolling in it?

[emmie]

so she ends up with a conviction,

[davebro]

I sincerely hope the Cyprus tourist industry takes a monster hit from the injustice this young woman has suffered.

[Old_Geezer]

No 9ne knows what occurred at the time of the incident, but we do know that the authorities didn't follow correct procedure. To my mind that should have resulted in the case against her being thrown out. A suspended sentence for now. Perhaps get home then see about an appeal rather than a pardon, which effectively says guilty.

[Old_Geezer]

...one...

[ToraToraTora]

dave, I suspect that's the reason for the suspenders, they hope that if she's seen to be going home, their tourist industry won't suffer too much. I for one am boycotting the place.

[dannyk13]

ymb She was not found guilty of rape. I am not assuming anything.

[emmie]

one can boycott the place of course, but this doesn't detract from the facts that she has got a record, and unless she and her legal team can get it quashed will remain so.

[dannyk13]

^ he, not she^

[KARL]

The fundamental thing is that it has not been established that rape took place. She reported a rape so a case was opened. She retracted the allegation so a different case was opened. There was never any guarantee that the first case would be proven, had it run its course. Either way, either case, the lady was going to be involved in court proceedings, with an unknown outcome. Rape cases are notoriously difficult to deal with and the important thing is not to give rise to a difference in weighting between guilt and innocence of either party, rapist (done the deed) or accuser (lied). A simple but wholly wrong approach would be to assume every allegation must be truthful until proven a lie. As it is the accused is assumed innocent until rape is proved - what constitutes the absolute minimum requirement for proof of rape having taken place where the accuser has willingly entered a private/exclusive location with only the accused present when the event is supposed to have taken place ? Actually, the accuser very often cannot prove the accused's guilt and even more often than that the accused cannot/could not prove (his) innocence.

Which country all this took place in is not the principal issue, nor is the fact that the lady is British. If either were major considerations then UK court decisions where foreigners are involved should come under scrutiny as to whether they are cause for "boycotting" the UK or parts of it. There is not a country on the planet where court goings on are beyond reproach.