The Supreme Court has for a second time rejected a woman’s request to overturn a search warrant that allowed police to investigate her property in a village in Nicosia.
The search uncovered items reportedly linked to fortune telling and black magic.
The case originated after a woman informed police in 2024 that she had encountered the suspect via the social media platform TikTok. The informant stated that the suspect advertised paid witchcraft services on the app, including claims in live videos that she could make a woman’s romantic desires for a man a reality for a fee.
According to court documents, the informant communicated with the suspect via phone and messages, seeking assistance in forming a relationship with a man. The suspect allegedly requested payment to perform magic to achieve this. When the informant refused to pay, she reportedly received threats from the suspect’s partner, warning her against reporting the discussions about witchcraft to the police.
Based on this information, police obtained a search warrant dated 18 September 2024, for the appellant’s house, outbuildings, and a wooden storage shed. The police were investigating a potential offence based on information received that the appellant was engaged in paid witchcraft, paid tarot readings, and black magic.
A recent Supreme Court decision noted that, according to police evidence presented in a sworn affidavit, “at the aforementioned house and premises, sums of money and objects such as bones, statues, and other items related to magic are illegally concealed, for which there is reasonable suspicion to believe that they will provide evidence for the proof of the aforementioned offence.” The prevention of the destruction of the sought-after evidence, which could support the investigation, was cited as a reason for issuing the warrant.
The affected woman had initially filed an application with the Supreme Court seeking a prerogative order of certiorari to quash the search warrant. A judge dismissed her initial request, and she subsequently filed an appeal with eight grounds, challenging the initial decision as incorrect. She argued that the lower court had wrongly concluded that no arguable case was established and had incorrectly found that the lower court had issued the warrant exceeding its jurisdiction or authority.
Three Supreme Court judges ruled that the evidence presented indicated that the District Judge could reasonably have been satisfied that there were reasonable suspicions justifying the issuance of the warrant, as the initial court correctly found. The evidence before the District Judge was deemed sufficiently satisfactory for the purposes of issuing the warrant.
The Supreme Court clarified that the legal threshold requires the creation of reasonable suspicion and does not necessitate the prima facie establishment of every element of the offence under investigation.
The sworn affidavit presented to the District Court provided reasonable grounds to believe that items related to the investigation were located in the appellant’s house, outbuildings, and the wooden storage shed in the yard. Considering that both objects and sums of money were being sought, it was deemed reasonable to search both the house and the wooden shed.
Cyprus’s Criminal Code, specifically Article 304, prohibits pretending to exercise witchcraft or tell fortunes for gain or reward, with violations punishable by up to one year in prison.
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