Angry scenes at Limassol court

By Martin Hellicar

There were angry scenes outside the Limassol District court yesterday morning as a man suspected of planting the bomb which killed chief game warden Savvas Savva was brought up for a remand hearing.

Police had to intervene to stop relatives and friends of the 52-year-old victim from closing in on Charalambos Spyrou, 26, as he was taken into the courtroom. The incensed relatives hurled abuse at the suspect.

The court heard fresh evidence apparently linking Spyrou, from Kantou village, to the March 23 bomb attack in Limassol town.

Case investigator George Aristidou told the court the suspect had, a week before the attack, hired a Pajero jeep just like the one the victim was blown up in.

Savva was killed when a bomb went off in his car as he drove down Limassol’s Makarios III avenue during the morning rush-hour, just minutes after he had dropped his two children off at school. The daylight bomb attack provoked spontaneous protests in the Limassol by residents concerned at the town’s spiralling crime rate.

Police say a man matching Spyrou’s description was seen following the victim’s car on a moped just before the attack and also say a search of the suspect’s home after the attack turned up bomb-making equipment.

Police chief Andreas Angelides has suggested Spyrou killed Savva to avenge the death of his cousin Marinos Spyrou, 25, who was killed by special game wardens on November 15.

Aristidou told the court Spyrou – a former member of the National Guard’s crack frogman unit – was refusing to make any statements to investigators about his movements immediately after the murder.

Spyrou was remanded for a further eight days.

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