A 50 year old Greek Cypriot man from Nicosia was jailed for seven years on Wednesday after being found guilty on 68 counts of sexually abusing his step daughter.
The offences were committed between 2008 and 2013, when the victim was aged 10 to 15 years old. The victim was the daughter of his wife at the time. The offences were committed when the mother was away from the house.
The victim remained silent for years, but spoke out in October 2016 when she was 18 and half years old and her mother and the stepfather had divorced.
Mother, daughter and a younger sister who was the daughter of the accused were living elsewhere with the young victim saying she had revealed the truth because she did not want her sister to experience the torment she had.
In its decision, the Nicosia Criminal Court said that rather than offering care and affection to a young innocent child, the defendant had taken advantage of her to satisfy his perverse appetite.
“We believe it is impossible for an observer to feel what this minor felt, trapped for years in a house, knowing that whenever her mother was away she was prey to the accused’s sexual desires. And all this under a state of fear and threats, having lost all sense of self-respect and self-appreciation,” the court said in passing sentence.
The court noted that the girl was in such despair that in 2010, aged only 12, she had slit her wrists, not in order to take her own life but in the hope that the accused will take pity on her and stop.
The court cited as aggravating factors the fact the offences were continuous over a long period of time and the fact that the accused showed no remorse, insisting on his innocence to the end.
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https://in-cyprus.com/news/local/50-year-old-found-guilty-of-sexually-abusing-young-girl/
