Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 03-03-23

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Sunday, March 23, 2003

CONTENTS

[01] Girl of 13 victim of sex attack by nine boys

[02] Man jailed for raping girl of 12

[03] CyTA denies overcharging telecoms company for lines

[01] Girl of 13 victim of sex attack by nine boys

POLICE are investigating an incident involving a 13-year-old girl from Limassol, who was allegedly kidnapped, stripped naked and sexually abused by nine teenage boys on Thursday.

According to reports, the alleged victim and a female classmate were having a drink at a café after school on Thursday afternoon with nine boys from a different secondary school, aged between 13 and 14. The two girls set off back home accompanied by the party of boys, who went on to force the girls to follow then into a house under construction.

One of the boys allegedly dragged the 13-year-old girl to an upstairs room by her hair, while the other eight boys held her friend back. When the alleged victim began to cry for help, the rest of the boys entered the upstairs room where all nine proceeded to sexually abuse her, having already stripped her naked. One of the boys also took her money before the group abandoned her at the house.

The girl reportedly returned home and reported her ordeal to her parents, who informed police of the incident.

Reports said three boys interviewed by Limassol CID had confessed to the deed. Police are continuing investigations into the case.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Sunday, March 23, 2003

[02] Man jailed for raping girl of 12

A 37-YEAR-old man yesterday began a five-year jail sentence after a Paphos court found him guilty on eight counts of rape and sexual abuse of an underage girl, as well as on two counts of kidnapping.

The man was convicted of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl between July 1999 and July 2000.

The 11-month long trial took place behind closed doors after a court order, in order to protect the victim.

In his testimony, the 37-year-old claimed the charges against him were fabrications made up by his business partner and that it was he who was raping the girl. He claimed his partner had made up the stories in order to cover his own crimes, and insisted he was innocent.

He was sentenced to four years on all counts of rape and sexual abuse, and six months for the other two counts of kidnapping.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Sunday, March 23, 2003

[03] CyTA denies overcharging telecoms company for lines

THE CYPRUS Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) yesterday refuted claims that it had grossly overcharged a private telecommunications company for its services.

Reports alleged that CyTA charged Cypriot telecommunications company Callsat Telecom four times the amount it should have for an Internet connection, prompting the Committee for the Protection of Competition to launch an investigation into the matter.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday, CyTA spokesman Paris Menelaou denied that the authority had overcharged Callsat, claiming instead that Callsat had not honoured the contract between the two.

“Callsat was originally an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and we provided them with an eight megabit Internet connection, for which we charged much lower rates than normal.

“They then asked us for a 12 megabit connection instead, which is the maximum allowed, and said they would scrap the eight megabit connection, as this would mean they had 20 megabits in total otherwise.

“But they never did stop using the extra eight megabits, and refused to pay extra, so we decided we would have to start charging them for this.”

Menelaou added that CyTA never actually cut off Callsat's connection, as the company eventually paid a cheque for £71,000, the amount owed to CYTA for use of the extra megabit connection.

“They (Callsat) are saying that we charged them too much, but this company has repeatedly broken contracts,” he said.

Menelaou confirmed that the matter has been referred to the Competition Committee, but stressed again that CyTA had done nothing wrong.

“The Committee said (on Friday) that CyTA had to give back the money owed. But we have not strayed beyond the contract's terms.”

He added that Callsat had used the Internet connection provided by CyTA illegally for voice calls.

“They were not supposed to use the connection for anything other than the Internet but were using it for voice calls well before the liberalisation of the telecommunications market in Cyprus.”

Asked what CyTA proposed to do about the matter, Menelaou said the authority was still considering its next move, adding that

CyTA would “do anything within the law to protect (the authority's) interests.”

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

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