Greek Cypriot jailed in north for sexual assault

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

Judge Jale Erguden 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 outside of northern Nicosia, before grabbing the hitchhiker’s hands and then “placed his genitals on the hitchhiker’s trousers”.

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

The victim filed a report with the north’s police, and the man was intercepted at the Ledras Street crossing point 10 days after the crime was committed, where Turkish Cypriot police arrested him after a struggle.

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”.

Erguden said on Thursday 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 the north 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.