Greek Cypriot man jailed in north Cyprus for sexually assaulting a foreign student

A 69-year-old Greek Cypriot man was sentenced to four months in prison in north Cyprus on Thursday after having been convicted of sexually assaulting a hitchhiker he had picked up in his car.

The incident happened at around 11.20am on 19 February on the Near East Boulevard in Lefkosia when the defendant named only as PS, a Greet Cypriot gave a student hitchhiker a lift.

Delivering the judgement on Thursday, July 4, the judge recalled the sequence of events of the crime, explaining that the man had picked up a 20-year-old male hitchhiker while driving on the Near East Boulevard, before grabbing the hitchhiker’s hands and then “placed his genitals on the hitchhiker’s trousers”.

This, the judge said, was done “without the victim’s consent” and “in a sexual manner”.

The victim filed a report with the TRNC’s police, and the man was intercepted and arrested at the Ledras Street crossing point 10 days after the crime was committed.

Police had said at the time he did not admit to the crimes during questioning, and the man’s lawyer had said his client had been “beaten”.

The judge said the punishment handed out must be a “deterrent” and said she had also taken into account the fact that the man’s victim was young and had come to north Cyprus to study.

She added that she had also taken into consideration the man’s advanced age and the fact that he, as a Greek Cypriot, would be serving his sentence in the north, and then announced she had sentenced him to four months behind bars.