Sailors held for stabbing

THREE Filipino sailors were remanded in custody for eight days yesterday in connection with the attempted murder of one of their compatriots.

Sailors Figuera Donalid, 26, Edgar Terora, 27, and Renato Balonga, 37, were arrested on Sunday after an eye-witness identified them to Limassol harbour police on board the cruise ship where they worked.

The men are accused of stabbing Josef Pajardo, 32. The victim is in a serious condition with severe stomach wounds. A second man, 30-year-old Napoleon Waangiwng, was also injured.

The investigating officer told Limassol district court yesterday that three suspects had been arguing with Pajardo at a restaurant on Limassol’s beach road on Sunday when one of the three allegedly attacked Pajardo with a broken bottle and then stabbed him with a knife.

Waangiwng, a friend of Pajardo’s, was injured in the chest when he tried to intervene. He was given first aid at Limassol general hospital and released.

Pajardo had to undergo surgery at a private clinic. Police yesterday described his condition as “serious but satisfactory.”

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