PARALIMNI, Cyprus — A Cyprus court on Tuesday extended the detention of five Israelis for another six days after a British woman accused them of gang-raping her in a hotel room during a pool party in the coastal resort town of Ayia Napa.
Famagusta District Court Judge Petros Theophilou ruled that there’s “reasonable suspicion” that the Israeli nationals may be implicated in the case and should remain in detention until police can complete gathering more evidence, including checking their cellphones for video or images relating to the incident.
The suspects — three aged 19 and the other two 20 — are expected to plead to charges including rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and abduction at their next court appearance.
Yiannis Habaris, a lawyer for three of the defendants and lawyers from the firm Gabriel Kaimakliotis representing the other two, said they had no objections to the remand renewal.
Two of the suspects weren’t present in the courtroom because they were in isolation recovering from COVID-19, the lawyers said.
Police investigator Andreas Nikolettis told the court that the 20-year-old British woman said one of the five Israelis had “forcibly” taken her to his room after grabbing her hand while she was partying with friends around the hotel pool on Sept. 3.
According to the woman’s statement to police, the Israeli tried to remove her bathing suit while she pleaded with him to let her leave. The other suspects then entered the room. One had intercourse with her against her will and another forced her to perform oral sex while another two held her down in the bed.
She said one suspect also held her up against the wall and had intercourse with her.
At some point, she managed to lock herself in the bathroom and began shouting for help. She managed to flee the room by pushing the suspects aside and rejoined her friends who went with her to report the rape to the police.
Nikolettis said the woman who was in a “bad psychological state”…
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