‘I was treated no differently from a common criminal’ – UK rape-case woman

The young British woman who said she was gang-raped by 12 Israelis in Cyprus before being found guilty of lying has spoken about the experience for the first time.

Now back at home in Derbyshire, the still-unnamed 19-year old told the Mail that she had been having consensual sex with a 21-year old Israeli who called himself Sam when suddenly his 11 friends burst into the room.

She said ‘Sam’ – described as a “handsome Israeli footballer” – then held her down as the others took turns to violate her at the Pampos Napa Rocks Hotel in Ayia Napa on 18 July last year. Israeli lawyers soon flew in and the men were freed in days.

The woman said she was interrogated by Cypriot police for hours without a lawyer and despite suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, before signing a “confession” that forensic experts tore holes in during the trial.

However, she was still found guilty of lying and convicted of “public mischief” despite the judge refusing to consider whether she was raped or not, leaving her British and Cypriot lawyers speechless. She is appealing the sentence.

Describing her experience, she said: “I was thrown into a police car. There was a crush of people outside the court, some of them pulling at my jumper, lots of them Israeli Press. They were shouting in a foreign language.

“I froze and started to shake. It’s a symptom of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, loud male voices shouting in foreign languages sets it off.

“I was wearing handcuffs with a fixed metal bar across them, and the metal was so sharp I had little slits on my wrists and bruises on my forearm. I was treated no differently from a common criminal, as if I’d committed a capital offence.”