Sex offender fined for flipping the bird

A pardoned sex offender has been fined €700 for giving the middle finger to the parents of his victim while boasting that he got out early.

According to daily Phileleftheros, a Larnaca District Court judge fined a pardoned male sex offender 700 euro after finding him guilty of making obscene gestures towards the parents of the victim, who was underage at the time of the offences.

According to court documents in the initial case, the girl lived on the same street as the perpetrator. She was twelve years old when the 60-year-old began to “groom her” until he sexually harassed her when she was 16. The nature of the incident was not made known in public, but reports said the man and his wife had gained the girl’s trust prior to the incident.

The convicted man, whose early release by presidential pardon in September 2018 sparked social debate, was initially sentenced to three years behind bars in November 2016. He was convicted of committing sex crimes against a minor and was serving his sentence when President Nicos Anastasiades signed off on a general pardon for a number of jailed convicts, following his re-election.

In September, days after he was released, he was arrested in his home on suspicion of possessing illegal explosives. Police told Knews at the time that they had obtained a search warrant after receiving a tip that the released sex offender had illegal explosives in his residence. However, officers did not find any explosives but filed charges for illegal installation of security cameras.

While it is legal in other countries to record in public spaces, police told Knews that private citizens in the Republic of Cyprus need special permission to install cameras that record images beyond the premises of their private property. The man was arrested on privacy law violations but was later released after police investigators sifted through the footage to see whether he was possibly recording the victim’s family home in the neighbourhood. The security cameras were confiscated.

In the latest incident, according to Philenews, the man gave the middle finger to the parents of his victim, while laughing and boasting that he was able to get out of prison early.

The parents said they were shocked when they first saw the man driving around in the community, adding that this was the time he drove by and made the obscene gesture.

State authorities are reportedly looking into several options, including finding a new home to relocate the family of the victim, who is now an adult.