Court of Appeal upholds sentences for man who abused 10-year-old in Limassol

Limassol, Cyprus. The Court of Appeal has confirmed prison terms of seven years and four years for a man found guilty of sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy, while describing the punishments as “particularly lenient”.

Appeal by the Attorney General

The court dismissed the appeal lodged by Attorney General George Savvides, who sought longer sentences. The judges ruled that the penalties, although lenient, fell within the permissible range and gave no grounds for intervention.

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Savvides argued that the original sentences did not reflect how serious the offences were, nor the psychological harm suffered by the child. The appeal also contended that too little weight was given to the aggravating circumstances, while the defendant’s personal and mitigating circumstances received excessive consideration.

The offences

The abuse took place in the summer of 2018. The defendant, a Bulgarian national, lived in the same apartment building as the child and was a friend of the boy’s father. He abused the child while the boy was at the defendant’s home.

The man was convicted of engaging in a sexual act with a child under 13. The court also heard that he repeatedly behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner on his balcony, aware that the child could see him while playing outside the family home.

The child’s circumstances

The boy came from a family facing serious social difficulties. His father was an alcoholic, his mother had psychiatric problems and had been hospitalised in the past, and there was a history of domestic violence in the home. The family moved house often, the child spent long periods on his own, and he almost never attended school.

The court further heard that the child had developmental and emotional difficulties, a limited awareness of danger and a tendency to trust people readily. According to the court, the defendant exploited these traits, building a relationship of trust by occasionally looking after the boy when his parents were unavailable.