The British woman said she was held down by two Israeli men while another had sex with her and another forced her to perform oral sex on him in her hotel room in Ayia Napa, Cyprus
The five Israeli men accused of gang raping a British woman on holiday have escaped a trial after the charges were dropped.
The men, aged 19 and 20 at the time of the attack, were said to have met the woman at a pool party in Ayia Napa, Cyprus on September 3, 2023. The woman alleged that she was “taken by force” from the pool to her room, where she was violently attacked by the five men. Three of the defendants admitted to having sex with her but claimed it was consensual, with all of them pleading not guilty to rape, sexual assault by penetration, sexual intercourse through violence, rape by compelling sexual penetration and abduction.
Today, a court said the charges have been dropped due to concerns that her testimony was not credible and had a number of “fundamental contradictions”. They said there were “weaknesses” with her original statement, which isn’t extraordinary in cases of this nature. But police became concerned when she gave “entirely incomprehensible and inconsistent” explanations regarding the contradictions. There were specifically concerns regarding the identification of the alleged rapists in a line-up.
On the night of the alleged rape, the woman, then 20, was said to have consumed a large amount of alcohol, and drugs like MDA and MDMA. However, the amounts in her system were not high enough that she couldn’t consent, investigators said. In her statement, the woman said she just felt dizzy from the intoxication.
The woman claimed one of the men dragged her to her room where he tried removing her bathing suit. She claimed that she was pleading with him to leave throughout. After the incident, the other defendants entered the room.
One had sex with her without consent, and another forced her to perform a sex act on him, the investigators claim. She alleged that two of the men held her down on the bed.
After the alleged assault, she said she locked herself in the bathroom and began screaming for help. She then escaped by pushing her way through the group. Once outside, she found her friends who she went to report the incident to police with.