The Supreme Court sentenced a 47 year old police officer to two years in prison for sexually assaulting a 22 year old female nurse in 2013.
The Attorney General’s office, which referred the case to the Supreme Court, deemed that the one year prison sentence suspended for three years, which was initially handed down by a lower court in Nicosia, was inadequate.
According to the case, the officer contacted the victim 2013, asking her to care for his brother who was facing mobility issues. She had been told that her duties would include bathing a man with disabilities and the pay would have been €30 for each visit.
For the first visit, the officer told the victim to go to a hotel room in Nicosia to see his brother. However, when she went inside, she found the officer there alone.
The officer then locked the door. Due to an underlying fear of rape, as she later told a Nicosia district judge, she consented to engaging in sexual acts with him.
The Nicosia District Court handed the suspended sentence, citing the man’s family and professional situation, as well as the fact that he did not have a criminal record.
But the Attorney General’s office said the sentence was“obviously insufficient” citing that the officer had carefully planned the criminal act.
The Supreme Court also said the police officer had a duty to uphold law and order, which entailed protecting citizens from behaviours such as his own and ordered him to serve a two year prison sentence.
