POLICE said yesterday they were not responsible for deciding who remains in custody before a trial after it emerged that the man identified as the rapist of a boy last week was free on bail awaiting trial for attempting to sexually abuse two other children last year.
The 10-year-old victim identified the 37-year-old Greek Cypriot at Larnaca police station on Friday night when the suspect went to report to police as part of his conditions of bail. The suspect has previously been imprisoned for manslaughter and is charged with trying to sexually abuse two minors in Nicosia.
Asked yesterday why the suspect had been freed on bail and not kept in custody until his trial, police spokesman Andreas Angelides said it was not the police’s decision.
“Our job is to file cases to court that has jurisdiction to decide, depending on a case’s severity, whether it will release, keep in custody or release under terms any persons,” Angelides said.
In other words, it was a court judge who allowed the 37-year-old to be released on bail.
Asked what the police could do when people with criminal records were released pending other trials, Angelides said “it is a delicate line”.
Asked how the 10-year-old Palestinian boy came to recognise the suspect as his attacker Angelides said, “there are specific recognition methods and what we have at our end is the child’s recognition of the suspect and his motorcycle.”
The boy had walked to Larnaca police station on Wednesday night, after a man on a motorcycle had forced him to go with him to “show (him his) dog”. He said the man had taken him to a rooftop and raped him at knifepoint.
A 34-year-old man was initially remanded after a witness placed him at the scene but was let go when the boy recognised the 37-year-old at Larnaca police headquarters on Friday night.
Angelides said that “certain suggestions based on the existing legislation will be made so that we are more effective but - besides parliament that amends or votes through laws - other services must be engaged so that everything is laid out in a more organised way”.
The results of genetic testing are expected within the next few days to confirm whether or not the 37-year-old is the rapist, Angelides said.
In the meantime, the 37-year-old is remanded in custody.
Angelides said that specially trained staff are conducting the investigations “because there are specific issues that need to be handled in a certain way different to ordinary cases”.
In the meantime, deputies were to explain yesterday what parliament has been doing to protect children from these type of crimes.
DISY’s Stella Kyriakidou said that a single law could not generalise among sex offences because the state needed to take on prevention and training and other aspects.
She said that at least 70 per cent of sexual abuse towards minors comes from relatives and family friends.
But she added that the law needed to change to protect children and communities from sex offenders.
Ruling party AKEL MP Adamos Adamou agreed but said parliament needed to launch legal changes immediately.
DIKO’s Athina Kyriakidou said that children needed to be taught how to differentiate between normal and abusive behaviour.
Cyprus has signed an optional protocol, part of the UN’s charter on children’s rights but has not ratified it yet.
The protocol is designed to protect children against exploitation.
For a year and a half, deputies and government bodies have been discussing ratifying the protocol and creating a stricter legal framework to protect minors.