Ayia Napa Brit teen’s friend accuses Cypriot police of ‘stitch-up’ over glaring errors in ‘gang rape lie confession’
A FRIEND of the British teenager convicted of a gang rape lie today accused Cypriot police of “a stitch-up” — which includes glaring inconsistencies in her “confession”.
A 22-year-old psychology graduate, who was with the teenager in Ayia Napa on the night of the attack, said an investigating officer re-wrote her witness statement to make it look like the pair had been drinking heavily earlier.
She said: “When I saw my statement in court I couldn’t believe it. No way was it what I had written.”
And the 19-year-old teen’s lawyer told The Sun a close examination of the language used in her statement retracting her rape allegation suggested it was not in her words.
Forensic linguistic specialist Dr Andrea Nini said: “The linguistic evidence supports the hypothesis that all or some parts of the statement were not composed by the girl.
“They were from a non-native English speaker. The combination of words is not what an educated English speaker would say or write.
“What it appears to be is words dictated to her by someone else who didn’t speak English as their first language.” The confession reads:
“The report I did on the 17th of July 2019 that I was raped at Ayia Napa was not the truth. The truth is that I wasnt raped and everything that happened in that appartment was with my consent.
'WRITTEN IN GREEKLISH'
“The reason I made the statement with the fake report is because I did not know they were recording & humiliating me that night I discovered them recording me doing sexual intercourse and I felt embarrassed so I want to appologise, say I made a mistake.”
Dr Nini said: “It is very unlikely a native English speaker would write ‘report I did’ — it would be ‘the report I made.’
“Also an English speaker is more likely to say ‘not true’ rather than ‘not the truth’.
“The statement also contains the word apartment which is misspelt with an extra p and is more American than English. ‘Discovered them’ is also not a native English speaker’s phrase.
“It’s more consistent with a person who has English as a second language.
“Perhaps the most telling is the use of the phrase ‘doing sexual intercourse’ — a native English speaker would say ‘having sexual intercourse’.”
Five phrases language expert doubts were victim's
- 'The report I did on the 17th of July' - an English speaker would more likely say the 'report I made'
- '[The report was] Not the truth' - Dr Nini says the phrase is 'grammatical' but a native speaker would say 'not true'
- 'Appartment (spelled incorrectly)' - The use of the Americanism is not consistent with the teen's middle-class background and budding university education. She would be more likely to use the word 'flat'
- 'I discovered them' - Dr Nini says this phrase is 'not consistent' with a native English speaker and more likely to be used by someone who speaks it as a second language
- 'Doing sexual intercourse' - an English speaker is far more likely to say 'having sexual intercourse'
The 19-year-old’s conviction on Monday rests on the validity of the retraction statement, which she is said to have written and signed ten days after the rape.
But Dr Nini’s analysis bolsters the well-educated teenager’s claim that the many grammatical errors and spelling mistakes prove it was not written by her.
Her lawyer Michael Polak said the statement was written in “Greeklish”.
And he insists it was given under duress after almost eight hours of hostile questioning and with no lawyer or translator present — a breach of her human rights.
The teenager’s friend, who comforted her as she sobbed and told of the hotel room rape by 12 Israelis, today insisted the Cypriot police never had any intention of taking them seriously.
'WEREN'T TAKEN SERIOUSLY'
She added: “It was a stitch-up from the beginning. It felt as if they had made their minds up without even bothering to listen to us.
"We weren’t taken at all seriously and it felt as if we were being kept in the dark the whole time.”
She told of her shock at the way in which her witness statement was taken by an investigating officer.
The 22-year-old, who had been out for a meal with the teenager earlier, added: “There was just me and him in the room and he kept saying to me ‘So you were both drinking a bit that night?’
“He was implying that we were drunk and I said that wasn’t the case. He was trying to suggest that it was all our fault because we were drunk. But we weren’t. He was writing my statement as he wanted to interpret it.”
Police initially arrested 12 Israeli men aged between 16 and 19 in connection with the attack.
But all were later released without charge and allowed home.
Police say the teenager invented the rape claim after discovering film of her having consensual sex with one of the Israelis had been posted online.
The teenager had started seeing the Israeli a few days earlier and had gone to a hotel room with him after having a meal with her friend.
During her trial she told the court they had sex but she asked him to stop when he became violent.
Orgy 'a fantasy'
A HUMAN rights lawyer has slammed the conviction and said the idea the teen willingly took part in an orgy is a “ridiculous porn fantasy”.
Harriet Wistrich, of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said: “I’ve never met a woman who’d consent to (sex with 12 men).
"I believe she had sex with one then was treated appallingly by his friends.
"As I understand there is video evidence of her asking the men to leave the room then they posted what they filmed online, which is particularly offensive.
"There appears to be a lot of material available.
“She confessed under duress. To me the conviction is unsafe.
“It’s also tortuous for her having the judge drag it out for so long. I don’t understand his motive.”
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She said he then pinned her down and his friends burst into the room and raped her.
The girl, from Derbyshire, was found guilty of public mischief earlier this week and faces a jail sentence of up to a year and a maximum £1,450 fine when she is sentenced on Tuesday.
Yesterday we told how the teenager and her mother called on Boris Johnson to personally intervene to put an end to her suffering before she is sentenced.
TEN JUSTICE FAILURES
- THE POLICE: The 12 Israelis were allowed legal representation from the beginning — but the teenager had no lawyer when questioned nor when she signed a retraction. Her eight-hour police interview was not recorded by detectives.
- THE JUDGE: Judge Michalis Papathanasiou terrorised the teenager — yelling at her: “Show respect! You must respect this court!”
- DELAYS: The teenager was accused of the minor crime of public mischief. But a case that should have taken days dragged on for five months.
- BAIL: Even though she first appeared in court at the end of July, she was not given bail until the end of August and so spent a month in a cell.
- PTSD: The judge did not take account that the teenager was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from her rape ordeal.
- WITNESSES: The judge dismissed all of the defence witnesses, including a forensic expert, claiming they were “unreliable”.
- LAWYERS: When the case began the teenager’s Cypriot lawyer Andreas Pittadjis tried to discourage interest in the case by telling journalists: “It’s not a big story.” He was sacked by the teenager’s family.
- RAPE CLAIM: The judge repeatedly refused to hear evidence about whether any rape took place. Campaigners say this turned the trial into a farce.
- THE MAYOR: After the first court hearing on July 26 the Mayor of Ayia Napa, Yiannis Karoussos, threatened to sue the teenager for defamation unless she apologised for claiming she had been raped. At that point she had not even entered a plea.
- TRAVESTY: Ex-MP Ann Clwyd says: “It looks like a travesty of justice. It seems to be far from fair.” Three ex-Cypriot justice ministers agree. They want the teenager pardoned.
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