Stepdad jailed for 12 years for raping girl under 13

Larnaca Criminal Court on Friday jailed a 47 year old man from Larnaca for 12 years after he was found guilty on four counts of rape, four counts of corrupting a girl under 13, indecent assault and two counts of causing actual bodily harm.

The trial, into the offences that were committed between January 1  and July 1, 2000 in Larnaca and a village of the same district, was held behind closed doors. The offences of assault leading to actual bodily harm against the victim and her sister were committed between January 1, 1992 and December 21, 2000 in Larnaca.

In its decision, the Criminal Court said that the defendant had raped the victim on several occasions when she was 12. The crimes were committed at their home where she lived with her mother, sister and brother, on the terrace of the block of flats in which they lived, in a caravan in the Larnaca district and on premises where he kept dogs.

The victim said she felt pain, fear and disgust with herself, could not sleep and cried in bed and that on several occasions the 47 year old had taken photographs of his abhorrent actions.

The court said the offences were particularly serious and carried a maximum penalty of up to life imprisonment, as it expressed acute concern that there had been a spike in such offences.

“We express our great concern on the dimensions such offences are taking and at the same our abhorrence and aversion,” it said.

The victim had reported the case to the police two years ago, but had first spoken about it aged 14 and half, first to her sister and then to her mother. The mother however would not believe her, and as a result the two sisters left the house and went to live with their grandmother and aunt until they were adults and moved to another town.

In passing sentence, the court said that crimes were “hideous and horrific”  and may have scarred the young woman for life.

“An innocent girl of a tender age at the time of the commission of the crimes, rather than finding protection, was dealt the most inhuman and demeaning treatment,” it said.

“From a guardian that he should have been, he became a nightmare,” it added.