Date Set for Supreme Court Appeal Hearing in Case of Teenager Found Guilty of Public Mischief After Reporting Group Rape in Cyprus

The Supreme Court of Cyprus has announced the date of the appeal hearing in the case of the British teenager found guilty of public mischief after reporting a group rape in July 2019. The appeal will be heard before the Supreme Court of Cyprus in Nicosia on 16 September 2021 at 9.30 am.

The expert legal team Justice Abroad has assembled comprises 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.

At appeal the defence will argue that the conviction is unsafe and should be set aside for several reasons. Primarily, it will be submitted that the retraction statement taken after the teenager, who was suffering from PTSD, had spent almost 7 hours in the Police station, and without the presence of a lawyer, should never have been admitted into evidence.  Further, it will be submitted that the trial Court did not pay due regard to the messages exhibited by the defendant which demonstrate that she was being placed under intense pressure to retract the rape allegation or to the evidence of expert forensic linguist Dr Andrea Nini that it is highly unlikely that the retraction statement contained the words of the teenager as was contended by the Police at trial.  

For these reasons, the defence will argue that admitting the retraction statement, which formed almost the entire prosecution case, into evidence, was contrary to the common law as set out in R. v Blackburn (Paul), [2005] EWCA Crim 1349 which considered the safety of a conviction by way of a confession by a teenager without a lawyer at a time before interviews were recorded in the United Kingdom, European Union Directive 2013/48/EU on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings which: ‘lays down minimum rules concerning the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings’, and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which requires an unequivocal waiver of the right to a lawyer

Further, submissions will be made that the trial judge did not properly direct himself as to the elements of the offence of public mischief and failed to consider each element of the offence before convicting the teenager, ignored expert evidence put forward by the defendant, and failed to consider the investigating authority’s failures in investigating the rape case when determining whether the charge was proven.

Justice Abroad’s Michael Polak stated the following:

‘We are pleased that we now have a date for the appeal against the unjust conviction of our client.  The consequences of a conviction can be severe, especially when faced by a young person, and we hope that the Supreme Court will overturn this miscarriage of justice.

European human rights law is clear that any waiver of the right to a lawyer needs to be unambiguous and the European Court of Human Rights has set out some factors for courts to consider when determining whether any statement made in the absence of a lawyer should be admitted into evidence. These factors includes whether the applicant was particularly vulnerable, the quality of the evidence and whether the circumstances in which it was obtained cast doubt on its reliability, the use to which the evidence was put, and in particular whether the evidence formed an integral or significant part of the evidence upon which the conviction was based, and the weight of the public interest in the investigation and punishment of the particular offence in issue.

We will be submitting to the Supreme Court that when these factors are applied along with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, including the factually similar Panovits v Cyprus, it becomes clear that this statement, taken in the absence of the teenager’s lawyers after almost 7 hours in police custody, should never have been admitted as evidence by the trial court. Given that this was almost the entirety of the prosecution case, the conviction of the defendant based on this is unsafe and should be set aside.

The teenager, her family, and the legal team would like to convey their thanks to all that have supported the campaign for justice so far and for the generous donations to the Go Fund Me fund (www.gofundme.com/f/Help-Teen-Victim-Get-Justice-In-Cyprus)

Justice Abroad is happy to deal with any enquiries by email: Contact@JusticeAbroad.co.uk

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 represent those facing gross breaches of their human rights no matter where this takes place, and to advise and assist the victims of crimes as to how to achieve justice.

Justice Abroad, run by international lawyer Michael Polak, has assembled a team of top investigators, lawyers, and support staff to provide unparalleled support, advice and guidance, legal, advocacy, and investigatory service for your Justice Abroad issues anywhere in the world.  The Justice Abroad team with their trusted international pool of experts, their networks, and media contacts and their well-documented determination to leave no stone unturned in the search for the truth and justice are here to provide that much needed support for families and individuals in their time of need.