Police investigate Sri Lankan rape claim

POLICE are investigating allegations by a 46-year-old Sri Lankan housemaid that she was abducted and raped at knifepoint on Sunday morning in Nicosia.

The unnamed woman said she was walking along Demosthenis Severis Avenue in Nicosia at around 8.15am when a man unknown to her, driving a brown pick-up truck, stopped and offered to take her wherever she was going.

According to police, the woman said she refused the offer but the man took out a knife forcing her into the car. She claims he then drove her to an abandoned house near the Nicosia District Court where he allegedly raped her.

Afterwards, the woman said her attacker left her at the house and she walked barefoot to the CyTA building, where she informed her compatriots what had happened and they took her to the police station where she lodged a complaint.

According to police, some of the woman’s personal items were found at the abandoned house along with a used condom. The evidence is being examined by forensic experts. The woman also had scratches on her arms, police said.

The alleged attacker is said to be around 45 years old, dark with a moustache and well built. CID Nicosia are investigating.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.