The hotel in Cyprus where young Israelis are suspected of raping a British tourist
(Video: Liran Tamari)
A British tourist, who claimed she was raped by a group of five Israeli men on Cyprus's Ayia Napa island, fabricated the story to get "insurance money," the father of one of the suspects claimed on Wednesday in an interview with Ynet.
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"This is the same case like in 2019 when the British tourist made up a story about a group of Israelis," he said, referencing an eerily similar alleged rape case, which ended with all charges against the Israeli suspects dropped after the complainant walked back her allegations.
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The hotel in Cyprus where young Israelis are suspected of raping a British tourist
(Photo: Liran Tamari)
"There is no rape here, they didn't drag her out of the pool and there was nothing. You see her going up to the room with one of the guys. We are talking about five guys who went on vacation before starting university studies. There are cameras in the hotel that record the girl hugging only one of them and going up to the room with him.
At the police station, I met detainees from all over Europe who are alleged to have committed criminal acts against British people. I would be happy if we saw intervention from the Israeli embassy here or from the Foreign Ministry. I hope it will be okay."
A 20-year-old British tourist told Cypriot police the suspects “forcefully dragged her” to a room in the hotel they were staying in where they allegedly sexually assaulted her. A source familiar with the investigation told the British Daily Mail that her version will be checked using the hotel's security camera footage.
Cypriot news site Philenews quoted local police sources as saying that the young woman arrived with her friends at a pool party held at a different hotel from the one where she was staying. "At a certain point, they approached me and started flirting with me," she testified during the investigation.
The five suspects, all aged 19 and 20 from the northern town of Majd al-Krum, met the tourist at the pool party at the Fedrania Gardens Hotel. Subsequently, at least two of them went up to the room with her - and there, according to her, sexually assaulted her.
The alleged victim promptly reported the incident to the hotel's security staff. Police arrived on the scene, and the young woman gave a detailed statement.
The Israeli suspects remain in custody and have claimed during their investigation that the sexual encounter was consensual. Although the complaint seems to target only two of them, all were arrested as a precaution, drawing from past experiences, to prevent the suspects from fleeing.
The five were apprehended by Cypriot police Sunday during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the island nation and four years after another alleged rape case of a British tourist by a group of Israelis. All suspects were released and the charges against them were dropped after the supposed victim walked back on her account.