Ex-bishop of Kiti to testify at indecent assault trial

Former Kiti Bishop Chrysostomos will testify in Larnaca District Court on October 24, the court heard on Wednesday in the ongoing case against him for indecent assault of a teenage girl.

The alleged offence was committed in 1981, when the woman was just 16. The 84-year-old former bishop pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charge.

Last May during the second hearing, the woman, now 57, was cross-examined by the defence lawyer Michalis Pikis, who asked her numerous questions about the five meetings she had with the defendant.

At Wednesday’s session, Pikis said his client will give sworn testimony and be cross-examined by the prosecution.

“Witnesses will then be presented for his defence,” the lawyer said.

The court also heard the testimony of an officer, Olga Isaia, who took the plaintiff’s testimony in March 2021.

The former bishop had been acquitted of rape charges in 2021 first brought against him and is now facing charges of indecent assault.

Last May, the plaintiff described as a “gift from God” the recent #MeToo movement that urged many women to come forward and report their attackers- even after many years had passed. She was responding after the defence counsel said the woman could have spoken out sooner.

“My aim was to get the truth out,” the woman repeated throughout her cross-examination.

But Pikis said the position of the former bishop was that whatever the complainant alleged did not take place and that he will also testify under oath before the court.

Last summer the former bishop’s defence lawyers had argued he did not have the mental capacity to follow legal proceedings, but the Larnaca criminal court ruled that he was mentally fit to follow proceedings.

At the first day of the hearing, during her testimony the plaintiff read out a written statement she had given in March 2021, crying, as she detailed the events leading up to and including the alleged assault.

During her first visit, she alleged, the bishop sat down next to her on the sofa and began touching her hands. He allegedly assaulted her on her fifth visit during which the bishop shoved her, pressed himself on top of her and kissed her on the lips. She began repeatedly screaming “let me out”, at which point she claimed the bishop got off her and opened the door.