Guided tour of Fanieros crime scene

By Martin Hellicar

ASSIZES judges trying three Aeroporos brothers for attempted murder were given a tour of the scene of the crime yesterday.

First port of call for judges Dimitris Hadjihambis, Fotos Yiassemis and Efthimoulla Kolatzi was the Larnaca gambling club where 57-year-old Antonis Fanieros was shot as he stood at a window on the night of May 29.

Father-of-three Tassos Simellides, already convicted for acting as motorbike driver for the drive-by shooting, has testified before the court that the Aeroporos brothers Panicos, 25, Andros, 30, and Hambis, 35, were, respectively, hit-man, organiser and instigator for what he said was a gangland hit. The Aeroporos brothers, who joined in in yesterday’s tour, deny charges of attempted murder.

A massive security operation was mounted for the court’s day out, with dozens of armed riot squad (MMAD) officers on the ground and a police helicopter patrolling overhead.

After the club on Atalantis street, the court drove by the victim’s apartment. In his testimony, Simellides told the court that he, Andros and Panicos had sat in a car outside the flats a few days before the attack while Andros mulled over ways to kill Fanieros.

Fanieros appeared at a window yesterday and seemed to be trying to shout something at the Aeroporos brothers, but could not be heard. His voice has been impaired by wounds suffered in the attack.

The court then headed for Limassol, stopping off at the Kofinou turn-off, where police officers Nicos Makrides and Yiannoulla Leonidou came under machine-gun fire while in pursuit of Fanieros’s suspected hit-men shortly after the attack. Simellides has stated it was Panicos who shot at the officers after getting him to stop the bike.

The court then went a few miles up the road to Mari quarry, where Simellides claims the get-away bike was dumped. A motorbike was recovered at the quarry a few days after the attack.

Next stop was the Ayios Yeorgios Alamanou bridge, where Simellides, 28, has said he and Panicos were picked up by Hambis after dumping the bike and throwing the kalashnikov used in the attack into the sea at Mari.

The marathon trial is expected to resume in its usual location, the Nicosia district court, today.

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