Cyprus’s Court of Appeal unanimously increased a man’s prison sentence to ten years on each count on Monday after the Attorney General challenged the original term as manifestly inadequate for the sexual abuse of his underage daughter.
The man had been convicted by the Limassol Criminal Court in 2023 on two counts of sexually abusing his minor daughter, abusing his position of trust, authority and influence over the victim. He was initially given a concurrent six-year sentence across both counts. Following an appeal by the Attorney General on the grounds of manifest inadequacy, the Court of Appeal on May 18, 2026 replaced that with a concurrent ten-year sentence on each count.
In its ruling, the court said the Attorney General “is right that the sentence imposed by the Limassol Criminal Court — six years on each count, to run concurrently — does not reflect what is recorded in its own judgment. […] The sentence must therefore, without ignoring the circumstances of the defendant, reflect precisely the need to protect underage victims from would-be offenders, given the alarming increase in the commission of such offences.”
Orders issued by the trial court, including the referral of the defendant to the Supervisory Authority, remain in force.
The case was handled on behalf of the Attorney General by state prosecutor Louiza Sigar.