Expert Forensic Linguist Gives Evidence and Closing Submissions Made in Voire Dire in Trial of British Teenager in Cyprus After Reporting Group Rape

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Expert Forensic Linguist Gives Evidence and Closing Submissions Made in Voire Dire in Trial of British Teenager in Cyprus After Reporting Group Rape

Justice Abroad is assisting the British teenager and her family in this matter.  The case continued today, Friday 15 November 2019 at Famagusta District Court in Paralimni.

At this hearing the Court heard expert evidence from the defence expert Dr Andrea Nini of the University of Manchester. Dr Nini is a specialist forensic linguist and lecturer in Linguistics and English Language at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

Dr Nini is a member of the International Association of Forensic Linguists and is listed on the UK’s National Crime Agency Expert Advisers database.  His Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics thesis was on ‘Authorship Profiling in a Forensic Context’. 

Dr Nini has applied a forensic linguistics approach to the retraction statement, which was signed by the teenager following an 8-hour ordeal in the Police Station without a lawyer and whilst suffering from PTSD, as stated by expert psychologist Dr Christine Tizzard at the previous hearing. Through this approach Dr Nini addressed whether the evidence supports the hypothesis that the disputed paragraph was composed by the teenager in her own words as alleged by the investigating Police Officer, or was dictated to her by someone who spoke English as a second language, the investigating Officer, as submitted by the defence.

The methodology applied by Dr Nini was one of Corpus Linguistics which focusses on the scientific study of language through the analysis of large collections of naturally occurring texts, the corpus, using computational methods.  Dr Nini selected five linguistic constructions for investigation and comparison to the frequency they are used in English texts in the corpus.  After undertaking this analysis he came to the conclusion that the linguistic evidence strongly supports the hypothesis that all or some parts of the disputed paragraph were not composed by the teenager in her own words but were dictated to her by someone who spoke English as a second language.

As well as hearing this expert evidence, the Court heard closing submissions in the voire dire (trial within a trial), in which the defence submitted that because of the way the retraction statement was obtained without the teenager having the assistance of a lawyer, whilst suffering from PTSD, and under immense pressure from the investigating Officer, it is unreliable and given under duress.  The defence rely on both Cypriot and international legal provisions including the case of Panovits v Cyprus decided by the European Court of Human Rights in their 18 page arguments submitted today.

Justice Abroad’s Michael Polak has stated that ‘We are very pleased to put the report of Dr Nini before the Court. Dr Nini is a leading forensic linguistics expert, whose work is focussed on examining statements, such as the disputed retraction statement in this case, to determine authorship. He gives clear evidence that flies in the face of the investigating Officer’s evidence that the statement was composed by the teenager and supports what the defence have been saying about the retraction statement from the start.’

The Court’s decision as to whether or to admit the retraction statement will take place at 10am on 28 November 2019 at Famagusta District Court, Paralimni.

The teenager is represented by an expert legal team assembled by Justice Abroad comprising of Lewis Power QC, a top barrister from Church Court Chambers at the English Bar of the senior rank of Queen’s Counsel, Cypriot lawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou, an experienced human rights advocate, and Ritsa Pekri, a criminal law expert.

The compilation of expert evidence to put before the Court and the continued fight to obtain justice for the teenager in these protracted proceedings requires further funding. The teenagers family continue to raise funds by the Go Fund Me page www.gofundme.com/f/Help-Teen-Victim-Get-Justice-In-Cyprus The family wishes to thank all those from the United Kingdom, Israel, and the rest of the world who have contributed to the fundraising campaign at what is a difficult and unexpected time for them and in what they consider to be a very important fight for the teenager’s rights and her future.

Notes to Editors

Justice Abroad, www.justiceabroad.co.uk  has been set up to help those trying to find their way through foreign justice systems with all the associated hurdles that presents. To help such families with these dilemmas and many more, three experts, Michael Polak, a barrister with an international practice focussed on the assistance of foreign nationals in trouble around the world, David Swindle ,  a former Detective Superintendent who has worked on hundreds of murders and complex high profile investigations in the UK and abroad during his 34 years in the police, and David Walters MVO, a former British Diplomat with over thirty years’ experience having served in over a dozen countries around the world, have pooled their extensive experience.  Justice Abroad is endeavouring to ensure that their client experiences a fair, transparent, and unbiased trial process in Cyprus.

Lewis Power QC is a barrister who was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1990 and achieved the senior rank of Queen’s Counsel (QC) in 2011. He has a strong reputation for fighting difficult cases at trial and advising and advocating in matters with international and cross-jurisdictional elements.

Nicoletta Charalambidou is human rights lawyer with an expertise on European Union law and with a particular interest in victims and suspects rights in criminal procedures and discrimination in the administration of justice. She is also a member to the Legal Experts Advisory Panel of Fair Trials. 

Ritsa Pekri is a civil and criminal law lawyer working with Nicoletta Charalambidou LLC with strong experience in criminal cases and those matters involving human rights related issues.

Justice Abroad is also cooperating with KISA - Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism which is a national NGO active in the field of antidiscrimination and antiracism, including discrimination in the administration of justice and a human rights violations watchdog working in the field of victim and suspects rights under EU law.