Man sentenced to 5 years in prison for sexual harassment

A 64-year-old man has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for sexually assaulting a an underage girl inside a minibus.

The judgement against Cengiz Öndağ, 64 by a Girne High Criminal Court was delivered on Thursday.

The incident happened on July, 24, 2018 when Cengiz Öndağ, was accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in a minibus in Girne. 

He was taken to court on charges of sexual abuse, sexual harassment and sexual assault.

The judge stated that the accused, made the 12-year-old girl who was going to Lefkosa from Kyrenia seat next to him in the bus saying "there is no room in the back". Another woman also joined them in from as the victim sat between the driver and the woman. The judge said the abuse of the girl took place after passing the Bosphorus area. He started the harassment when the woman sitting next to them fell asleep.

He touched her legs more than once and stroked them with her fingers several times on the pretext of changing the bus gears. He then touched her belly and shoulder with his hands.

When the girl got off at the Miter round about, she was picked by her relative. She told the incident first to her aunt and then to her mother. The accused was arrested after the mother's complaint. The defendant, on the other hand, admitted that he made contact while changing gear. 

After the investigation, the accused was released on bail pending trial.

The court judge stated that the complainant, who is now 17 years old, is still traumatized due to the incident.  

The judge said that while making a decision about the accused, they evaluated the facts presented, the discoveries made and the testimonies of the expert witnesses heard as a whole.  

The judge said that they considered the fact that the accused had committed this crime against someone 22 years younger than him and that he had also committed a widespread crime as an aggravating factor against him.  

The judge stated that there has been an increase in sexual crimes, which has been on the agenda of the high criminal courts in the last 10 years, while 11 cases were brought to court in 2011, 36 cases were seen in 2021.  

After mentioning all the facts, they sentenced the accused to 5 years in prison.