A British woman has been found guilty of lying about being gang raped by 12 Israeli youths six months ago.
A district court in the town of Paralimni, Cyprus, ruled the woman, aged 19 at the time, had lied about being sexually abused by the teenagers.
She was found guilty of the charge of “public mischief” with sentencing scheduled for January 7.
The woman was arrested after police said she withdrew an accusation that the Israeli teenagers raped her in a hotel room at the holiday resort of Ayia Napa in mid-July.
The incident was reported as having occurred in the coastal resort of Ayia Napa, some 5 miles (8 km) from Paralimni and popular with young people.
Judge Michalis Papathanasiou said the defendant didn’t tell the truth and tried to deceive the court with “convenient”and “evasive” statements in court.
Papathanasiou said that the defendant admitted to investigators that she had lied and apologized, saying she made the claims up because she was “ashamed” after finding out that some of the Israelis had videoed her having sex on their mobile phones.
Defense lawyer Ritsa Pekri asked the court to mitigate her sentence, saying that she regretted her actions and only did what she did because she was under strong psychological pressure.