Indecent exposure outside north primary school was just ‘a joke’

A man arrested on Tuesday for masturbating outside a primary school in the north did so “as a joke”, he told police.

The man, a Pakistani national who was arrested on Tuesday  in northern Nicosia, appeared in court for the second time on Thursday.

In court, police officer Birtan Basaran explained that the incident had taken place in close proximity to a primary school, while children were in the school’s playground, and said video evidence of the incident had been obtained by a parent who was picking their child up from school at the time.

He said the man had told police he had committed the act “as a joke” while on a video call with a friend.

He also once again explained that the man while stood next to his van, “removed his sexual organ from his trousers and began masturbating in a way that could be seen from his surroundings” at around 1.20pm on Tuesday.

Judge Zehra Yalkut Bilgec ordered the man be sent to prison for a period not exceeding one month subject to the start of a trial.