Syros kidnapped and raped a 15-year-old girl - He published her photos on Instagram

25-year-old Syros had a relationship with a 15-year-old student, but because the minor had refused to have sex with him, he kidnapped her one day while she was going to school and raped her. She then posted pictures of herself.

The 25-year-old was arrested and sentenced to 11 years in prison. However, he appealed, considering the sentences imposed on him to be manifestly excessive and/or legally incorrect.

According to the facts of the case, a high school student, at the age of about 15, created a bond with the 25-year-old, which lasted for six months. The 25-year-old wanted to have a sexual relationship with the 15-year-old and the latter refused, telling him that she was still young. In June 2019 he attempted to proceed. While they were at his house he started kissing her on the neck, on the cheek and when he threw her on the bed she pushed him and left.

But that same month, while the 15-year-old was walking to the bus stop to go to her school, the 25-year-old surprised her, grabbed her by the hair, put her in his car and drove her to a deserted area with rocks where he sexually assaulted her. The 15-year-old succumbed because in a previous fight he had slapped her, another time he pulled a knife but in this particular case he pulled her by the hair. When he finished he took her to her school. Since then, the 15-year-old has stopped communicating with him.

But in January 2020, he posted two photos of her on the internet at the time of the sexual abuse. The post was made on a fake account that the 25-year-old created on Instagram under the name of the 15-year-old. The 25-year-old sent the photos to the 15-year-old's classmates, with the result that the incident immediately spread throughout the school, the 15-year-old suffered humiliation and bullying, the principal intervened and finally the case was reported to the Police.

When the Police, in the context of the case, proceeded to search the residence of the 25-year-old, they found on his mobile phone files of pornographic material with the 15-year-old. The 25-year-old, however, did not admit the charges. A hearing was held in which the minor was called as a prosecution witness. In the end he was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to 2 to 11 years.

The 25-year-old complained that the sentences imposed on him are manifestly excessive and/or legally incorrect. It is suggested that the Criminal Court gave too much importance to the deterrent nature of the sentence when it was mentioned, in order to arrive at the frequency of the commission of offenses of this nature, not only in the cases it tried, but also in the cases pending on its docket. In this way he violated the presumption of innocence. It further failed to consider the 25-year-old's personal circumstances sufficiently or at all and failed to take into account any decisive mitigating factors. Her young age, he concludes, is a decisive mitigating factor, combined with her white criminal record.

Aggravating factors

As aggravating factors, he took into account the fact of violence and abuse from a position of influence. The abusive behavior continued with the public humiliation of the minor in her school. The whole situation had certainly adversely affected the 15-year-old, who at the time of the crime was 15 years and 4 months old. Her psychological evaluation showed that the abuse she suffered from the 25-year-old caused her to develop partial symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. However, with the removal of the 25-year-old from her environment, the 15-year-old was relieved and felt safe and the problems did not develop into their extreme form.

The mitigating factors

On the other hand, he took into account as mitigating factors the young man of 25 years old, as well as his difficult childhood, coming from a large poor family from Syria. He now resides in Cyprus as a political refugee.

The position of the court

For its part, the court states that "cases of this nature and in general cases of sexual offenses, especially with children as victims, are not only on the rise, they are not just crimes that dominate the criminal landscape of Cyprus, but have now developed into an unprecedented scourge .

This situation creates an obligation for the courts to impose particularly deterrent and therefore severe penalties, with the result that personal circumstances are secondary and the individualization of the penalty, however imposed, does not play a decisive role.

Finally, we must not forget the age difference between the victim and the perpetrator. The 25-year-old was young, but 10 years older than his victim, in a phase of life when such an age difference is of great importance.

We have found no evidence to make the sentence manifestly excessive. Not even an error of principle is found against the 25-year-old".

This conclusion suggests that the 25-year-old was not only not punished excessively, but in fact was shown leniency.

Source: sigmalive