Holidaymaker Annette Mangan from Dublin may not have to serve the full four months of a sentence for making a false accusation of rape against Irish soldiers on leave from service with UNIFIL in Lebanon.
It is unlikely that she will serve the full sentence because normally terms are halved and additional time off is given for good behaviour. So she may serve no more than about 50 days, in the Nicosia Central Prisons, an updated British colonial barracks located on the edge of the buffer zone which runs along the Green Line dividing the island.
A person convicted of an offence like making a false accusation and wasting police and court time might also be summarily deported.
An informed source said that the court was quick to pass sentence yesterday because of a huge backlog of contested cases and because many court personnel are on holiday, creating increased pressure on the entire system of justice.
Larnaca District Court is hearing another rape case in which a Norwegian woman victim has accused two Swedish male tourists of assault. In this case the two men have been arrested.
There is also a more serious case involving recurrent violence perpetrated by British soldiers serving at the sovereign bases on the island.
The Larnaca District Court is currently hearing evidence in a case involving the alleged assault this month by five off-duty British soldiers on three British tourists, two men and a woman.
The soldiers (Roger Bell, Steven Wolstencroft, both 26, and Tim Carter, Steven Girvan and Stuart Spencer, all three 20) of the 1st Battalion of the King's Regiment have been charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm upon Mr Shane Bell and Mr Barry Ford, both 23, and actual bodily harm upon Ms Claire Bell (22) from south-east London.
Mr Ford suffered a broken wrist and severe bruising about the face, Mr Bell a broken jaw which required surgery. The tourists were in a party of six which was due to return to London on August 4th but the entire group has stayed on the island for the court proceedings.
All three cases were a result of incidents in Ayia Napa, a major tourist resort area located on the south-east coast of the island near the British base at Dhekelia.
Once a sleepy fishing village with one fine building, a monastery and no hotels, Ayia Napa has in the past 15 years been transformed into a tourist trap, boasting a range of hotel accommodation as well as downmarket hotel apartments favoured by package tourists.
The centre of Ayia Napa has been taken over by sleazy night-clubs and bars, hawkers of cheap goods and kebab and pizza parlours. It is here, at the town centre, that trouble generally starts, usually in the early hours of the morning.
In September 1994 three British soldiers kidnapped, raped and brutally beat to death a Danish tour guide, Louise Jensen, after a night's heavy drinking at an Ayia Napa bar.
The three men, Geoffrey Parnell (25), Justin Fowler (29) and Allan Ford (28), were sentenced to life in prison, i.e. 20 years with time off for good behaviour.
Last month two of the three (Parnell and Fowler) were involved in yet another drunken brawl inside the prison. They and two other British inmates clashed with three Cypriot prisoners after drinking illicit wine.
As a result of the Jensen murder, Ayia Napa was declared off bounds to British soldiers and it was only last month that the ban was lifted. The army has now re-imposed this restriction.
Other tourist areas in Limassol and Paphos have also, on occasion, been declared off limits to off-duty British soldiers.
Acutely aware of local resentments against the British bases and the presence of so many foreign troops, the British army command has always been prompt to ban soldiers from problem areas once trouble has started.
The Cypriot courts generally impose heavy sentences and fines for violent behaviour in resort areas.
Since tourism has fallen off this summer, the authorities are more eager than ever to keep the peace and maintain the tourist inflow. Many resorts are packed to capacity this month with Cypriot families so the police, already fully stretched, are on maximum alert.