The Court of Appeal doubled the sentence of a 73-year-old man who was convicted of sexually abusing his grandchildren, a girl aged ten and an autistic boy aged five.
As Phileleftheros reports, both the defendant and the Attorney General appealed the initial seven-year conviction, the first believing it was extreme, and the latter considering it inadequate.
Finally, the Court of Appeal deemed that the verdict was inadequate and as a result, it doubled the man’s sentence from seven to 14 years in prison.
According to the case proceedings, at the beginning of 2019, the appellant, aged 73, who lives in England, came to Cyprus to visit his daughter and her three underage children.
During that time, he sexually abused both his autistic grandson, as well as the boy’s older sister. The crime was made known to the parents after the boy revealed what was happening to his older brother, who informed their father and then the police.
Both victims are suffering from post-traumatic stress and reported problems with their sleep, anxiety, as well as stress, Phileleftheros writes.