Man jailed for 30 months for sexually abusing 8-year-old boy at a mosque in Cyprus

A 20-year-old man who taught Quran classes to children at a mosque in a Cyprus province has been jailed for 30 months after admitting to sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy.

The young man pleaded guilty to three counts of child sexual abuse, an offence carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, at a District Court following a closed-door hearing.

According to the court’s decision, on 18 April 2025, the child’s father reported to provincial police that the previous evening he had taken his 8-year-old son to a mosque for prayers.

He left the boy there, went home, and returned a short time later to pray. After prayers, he found his son in the courtyard, distressed and confused.

When asked what happened, the boy said he had been told not to say anything. After persistent questioning, he explained what had occurred and pointed to a young man nearby, saying the man had asked him to go somewhere together because he wanted to tell him something. After the boy followed him, they went to the toilets outside the mosque, and after the man locked the door, he committed the unlawful acts.

The father immediately grabbed the young man his son had pointed out and demanded to know what he had done to his son. The man initially denied it but then admitted the act and then fled the scene.

The father asked those present for the young man’s identity and gathered information. Late that evening, he received a WhatsApp message saying, “If you want to beat me, beat me, but don’t report me to the police because you will ruin my life”.

In a video-recorded statement, the boy recounted what happened. In his own statement, the accused said that for the past five months, he had been teaching religious classes to young children at the mosque, where the boy attended, and described what he had done to the child. The accused cooperated with police and pointed out the scenes.

The court took into account the position of trust the accused held with the boy, the circumstances of the offences, and the extent of harm caused.

It noted that aggravating factors included that the acts took place in a place of religious worship and prayer. A place of worship represents, subconsciously and socially, a space of safety, moral guidance, and absolute trust.

Its desecration by committing a sexual offence reinforces revulsion not only because the crime occurs in an inappropriate place, but because it violates an expectation of protection that is socially considered self-evident, especially for children.

The court also noted systematic targeting of the same child on two different dates, an attempt to deter the complaint through the WhatsApp message, and elements that could suggest a gradual approach, offering religious instruction as a means of access.

The targeted selection of the child, the decision added, was also without a protective network, as the victim was a minor of foreign origin.

There was a lack of spontaneity, as the acts on two dates showed persistence and deliberation, not momentary impulse.

The court also highlighted the deprivation of the victim’s ability to escape through his isolation in the toilet, the locking of the door, and the covering of the mouth. The boy was only 8 years old, with a large age difference from the perpetrator, regardless of his own young age.

The court imposed a sentence of immediate imprisonment for 30 months.