The mother of a British teenager accused of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus has claimed the British embassy failed to support her daughter.
The 19-year-old, who MailOnline is choosing not to identify, is on trial accused of falsely alleging that she was attacked by 12 Israeli men at a hotel in Ayia Napa in July.
Her mother, using the alias Jenny, said her daughter was in a ‘living nightmare’ and that there has been a lack of consular assistance while her daughter’s human rights were violated in prison.
‘You have this concept that if something goes wrong, you’ll be helped by having a British passport – but that’s not my experience.’ Jenny told the BBC.
The 19-year-old is on trial for falsely alleging that she was attacked the 12 men at a hotel in Ayia Napa in July (pictured: the unidentified teen arriving at at Famagusta District Court last Thursday)
‘I’m shocked that neither the EU or the Embassy or the government through my MP have stepped in to ensure fundamental rights under European law are observed.’
The mother told Victoria Derbyshire that her daughter had been suffering from severe post traumatic stress disorder since she alleged that she was raped.
She claimed her daughter ‘sees things, she hears things’ and is jumpy and uncertain about what is going on around her.
Jenny said a consular officer had visited the prison a few times and managed to arrange for her to see her daughter just once.
Jenny told the BBC: ‘She was a changed person, she was very withdrawn, she was quite terrified of everything, she didn’t want to leave the room that she was in she was very jumpy.
‘When she left for Cyprus she was a beautiful bubbly happy girl that was very confident and she was totally different when I got there.’
Her daughter was released on bail in August but had her passport confiscated so that she could not leave the island.
The Foreign Office said in a statement: ‘Our staff continue to support a British woman and her family following her arrest in Cyprus.
‘We have made a number of visits to her in detention, attended court hearings, and are in contact with her legal representatives and the local authorities about her case.’
Last week the teenager stormed out of the court in tears and had to be comforted by her mother after being told by the judge he would give her his verdict after Christmas.
Her mother told the BBC: ‘I have no life, I don’t see my friends and family and both of our normal lives are on hold … Being out here over Christmas is a nightmare.’
The woman accused 12 Israeli men of raping her in August but later recanted the accusation, which she says she was pressured to do by police. The men have already been freed (file)
The teenager had reacted furiously last week when the judge adjourned her case until December 30 and shouted across to her British lawyer that she wanted an earlier hearing.
The judge slapped her down in a stinging rebuke as he told her to ‘show some respect’ in the Paralimni courtroom.
Her legal team had hoped that the judge would return his verdict before the courts close down in Cyprus on December 20 and allow her to return home provided she was not given a prison sentence.
Her mother, using the alias Jenny, said her daughter was in a ‘living nightmare’ and that there has been a lack of consular assistance while her human rights are violated in prison (pictured: arriving at the court last week)
The woman said she was having a holiday fling with one of the men whom she had met at the hotel where she was staying.
She said she was having consensual sex with him when a group of his friends burst into the hotel bedroom and carried out the assault.
Prior to the attack she said some of the men had filmed her having sex, but she had been too drunk to be aware of it.
Police swooped on the Napa Rocks Hotel where the alleged assault took place and arrested 12 Israelis aged between 15 and 22.
Five of the men were freed after a week and the other seven allowed to fly home when the woman retracted her rape claim.
In court she claimed she had been bullied by cops into withdrawing the allegation.
She said she was denied legal help with her retraction written by a detective who had a poor grasp of English.
The woman faces up to a year in jail if convicted of the charge of public mischief and lying about the gang rape, which took place last July.
In his closing speech prosecutor Adamos Demosthenous told the court the sex attack was an ‘imaginary crime’ that never took place.
He said the woman had made up the allegation because she ‘felt shame and humiliation’ of being filmed having consensual sex.
The prosecutor said the films shot on mobile phones meant that the alleged victim had to change her story when she appeared in court to give evidence.
In her closing statement her defence lawyer Ritsa Pekri said: ‘A rape did take place. The prosecution have to prove she was lying and they did not.’