Appeal court increases domestic violence sentence from two to three years

Nicosia, Cyprus. A man from Somalia had his prison sentence increased from two to three years in a domestic violence case after the court of appeal found the original penalty “clearly insufficient” given the nature of the crime. The decision, announced on Friday, followed a Thursday hearing of the attorney-general’s appeal against the sentence imposed by the Nicosia criminal court.

Charges and sentencing

The man pleaded guilty to five charges concerning threats, assault causing actual bodily harm, restriction of liberty, and cruel, inhumane and humiliating treatment of his partner.

The criminal court had sentenced him to two years in prison for the cruel, inhumane and humiliating treatment. It imposed no separate penalties for the remaining charges, finding that they were covered by his overall behaviour.

Incidents described in court

The court heard that the first incident occurred at the couple’s flat in March 2025, after the woman refused to drive the man to a place where he could buy drugs. He hit her until she lost consciousness.

When she regained consciousness, he said he would report her to the police as a minor who was being mistreated. After she told him to go to the police, he held a penknife to her throat and whipped her with a charger cable.

The woman tried to report the assault, but the man accompanied her and denied it. During a second attempt to reach the police, he grabbed the steering wheel from the passenger seat and directed the car elsewhere. She braked and tried to get out, but he hit her in the face. She escaped briefly before he caught her and forced her to drive back to the apartment.

At the apartment, she tried to get away again, stopped a passing car and asked its driver to take her to the police. Police accompanied her to Nicosia general hospital, where doctors recorded bruises and cuts to her face and body.