Three police officers in court for rape of 19-year-old woman in a police station in Omonia

The woman reiterated her allegations that in 2022, she was taken to the Omonia Police Station by two officers and then raped. She explained before the court that she didn’t try to leave because she was “frozen.”

The complainant testified that she approached the officers to ask about some issues related to her work, particularly criminal matters, and that she met them near the Thissio station. When the accused officers advised her to go to the police station, she went without hesitation.

However, she became suspicious and anxious that they would take her to the police station’s locker room, where, as she said, they sexually assaulted her. “When F left, T sat next to me and started kissing me. At first, I didn’t react. It wasn’t what I wanted to do, there had been no flirting. I was in shock. I kissed him back to get up and leave,” she said regarding the two defendants as the main perpetrators. It is noted that a third officer is also in court, accused of aiding and abetting.

President: Did you leave?

Witness: I couldn’t. He took off his belt, he had his service weapon… He put it next to me. I was terrified, and because my father is violent, I was frozen from the shock… I was stiff, I couldn’t do anything. He took out the weapon and placed it next to me…

President: Why were you afraid?

Witness: I fear men generally because of my relationship with my father…

President: Nevertheless, the communication with the other sex here is normal. You spoke, exchanged numbers… Even though you claim you don’t have a healthy relationship with the opposite sex, you’re telling us that with the police officers, you didn’t have trouble getting to know them.

Witness: They were police officers, I was at the station. Up until that point, I had no bad feeling.

President: He kissed you, and you responded…

Witness: Later. Not at first.

President: Normally, you’d slap him and report it!

Witness: You are right. But I…

President: You are inside the station…

Witness: It’s true what you say, but from all the stress, no one asked me if I wanted this. I froze, I was immobilized. I couldn’t kick, hit, or show that I didn’t consent.

President: Consent is not always verbal. You show it through behavior…

Witness: But there was no flirting.

President: He kissed you, and you kissed him back.

Witness: He lowered my head (…) … I was in shock, I couldn’t react. I kept asking myself why I was there, why is this happening. When there is flirting, there is a question… I just froze in defense. I couldn’t manage it. My hands and legs were trembling… After that, he grabbed me, lifted me, put me on the table, raised my skirt… I screamed because it hurt, and he told me not to scream. I had my eyes closed and kept asking when this torment I was living through would end.

President: Did he hold your mouth with his hands?

Witness: No. But I was face down, I was immobilized.

President: Did he fall on top of you?

Witness: He was standing. I couldn’t do anything…

President: Why?

Witness: I was mentally frozen. It didn’t even occur to me that this would happen… I couldn’t even imagine it.

According to the witness, when the second defendant appeared, she told him she had been attacked by his colleague, but he proceeded to do the same thing.

“While I was asking for help, he started doing the same thing,” she said, explaining that she told him there was no consent for what had happened, clarifying, “It was obvious from his look that he already knew. And from his actions. It was definitely premeditated.”