UK man falsely accused of raping American teenager in Greece, lawyer discusses impact on his life after long legal battle

A man from Britain has been acquitted of sexually assaulting an American teenager outside the bar where he was employed in Greece after fighting a legal battle for six years, resulting in the breakdown of his marriage.

The 35-year-old DJ had been in a legal dispute with a 19-year-old woman since 2019 when she accused him of assaulting her while she was heavily intoxicated in Crete.

The father-of-six insisted they had consensual sex – which a court in Heraklion believed today due to doubt over the girl’s statement.

During the court proceedings, the young woman was not present, nor did she have any legal representation. The defendant’s lawyer, Costas Papamastorakis, suggested that this could be because she discovered her travel insurance did not provide coverage for the consequences of sexual assault.

When she was first questioned by Hersonissos Police Department, she allegedly told them that she was insured for rape.

But it later became clear that the woman’s travel insurance would not cover the rape case, it was reported in Law&Order.

Mr Papamastorakis reportedly said ‘the insurance company’s lack of coverage was likely the reason why the complainant did not appear’.

The young woman claimed at the time she had been raped and forcibly dragged out of a bar in Malia to an uncovered area by a burly, dark-skinned man.

The Brit, who had been working as a DJ at the same bar, said they had consensual sex inside after he met the young woman who was partying with her friends.

When they then went outside, the girl vomited from being drunk and he suggested she drink some water or to sit on a sidewalk before going back into the bar, he claimed.

Later that night, he heard while eating food with friends that a young woman had been raped at the bar.

The Brit, then 29, handed himself over to the police, believing they would inevitably question him.

The court’s decision to spare the British father was a huge win, Mr Papamastorakis said, whose client’s life fell apart since the allegation, including the mother of his six children divorcing him.

It comes only months after another Brit was facing a nightmare court battle over assault in Greece.  

A young woman who was gang raped by two men while on holiday in Crete was forced to return to Greece for a second trial in March, despite her two attackers previously receiving life sentences for their horrific crimes.

The woman, who had just turned 18 at the time of the assault in June 2022, had been holidaying with friends in the city of Rethymno after finishing her A-Levels.

As she was sitting on a sunbed following a night out, she was grabbed and dragged away by two strangers, who then took it in turns to rape her. 

The men, understood to have been Pakistani nationals who were in their 20s at the time, were apprehended by Greek authorities a few hours after the horrific attack.

They confessed to the gang-rape at the time of their arrest but then reportedly said the woman consented in their court appearance a year later.

The young woman is said to have been forced to stand just metres away from her attackers as she gave evidence.

The harrowing case ended with the men being jailed for life – or so the woman’s family thought, as they looked forward to moving on from the ordeal.

But shockingly, the men took advantage of a Greek law which allows defendants to lodge an appeal within a certain time frame, giving them an automatic right to a full retrial with a fresh examination of witnesses and evidence.

The young woman had no choice but to return to Greece to be put through the horrific trial process all over again, with her mother saying the experience will likely re-traumatise her.