Martin Hellicar
PETROS Patsalides, the nightclub shooting suspect who gave himself up on Saturday after 18 days on the run, was yesterday sent to trial before the Nicosia Criminal court, convening on Monday.
In the dock of the Nicosia District court yesterday, he came face to face with the man police say has named him as responsible for last month’s machine-gun attack on Nicosia’s Dow Jones club, which left two club-goers seriously injured.
Police were again out in force for 33-year-old Patsalides’ second court appearance in four days, fearing he might try to repeat the daring escape that thoroughly embarrassed the force earlier this month.
On February 6, while on remand in connection with the January 21 nightclub shooting, Patsalides gave a five-man police escort the slip in old Nicosia. Police did not get their man back till he decided to hand himself in by surrendering to well-known TV reporter Demetris Mamas, who escorted him to police in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The escape and the manner of his surrender have made Patsalides notorious and the media were out in force to capture his court appearance yesterday morning.
The ranks of photographers, TV cameramen and reporters played their part in the creation of a tight scrum outside the court as Patsalides was led in. Things threatened to get out of hand as the suspect tried to wrestle free of his police guard to get close to his former fiancée, Christiana Andreou, who was waiting by the courthouse entrance to see him.
A huge crush developed on the courthouse steps as the suspect and his ex-lover were surrounded by about a dozen plain-clothes, uniformed and riot squad police officers. A group of Patsalides’ relatives added to the confusion, pushing, shoving and yelling. Police eventually managed to sort things out, and escorted the handcuffed suspect into the courtroom, where he was allowed to sit at the back of the chamber tearfully embracing Christiana and surrounded by his mother, father and other relatives.
A few minutes later, a pale-looking Patsalides was standing in the dock hearing a long list of charges against him, which included an alleged attempt to murder his ex-fiancée.
No charges relating to his February 6 escape or 18 days on the run from police were read out yesterday.
Patsalides, from Nikitari in the Troodos foothills, faces eight charges relating to a machine-gun attack on the Dow Jones club at 3.30 am on January 21. He is accused of seriously injuring two Russian girls by firing on the club with an army issue G3 automatic.
Police say he shot at the club in an attempt to kill Christiana. Patsalides denies these claims, but police say that just before the shooting he had been thrown out of the Dow Jones by bouncers who intervened to stop him dragging Christiana out of the club.
Patsalides, who will reply to the charges before the Criminal court on Monday, is accused of carrying out the January 21 attack with his friend Andreas Christodoulou, from Nicosia. Police say 22-year-old Christodoulou has testified that he acted as driver for the machine-gun attack after Patsalides threatened to shoot him.
Christodoulou had already been referred to trial before the Assizes on Monday in connection with the same attack, but was yesterday up before the District court to hear further charges. He looked sheepish sitting next to Patsalides in the dock yesterday, avoiding the gaze of his rather more solidly built co-accused.
The additional charges read out to both men concerned illegally carrying and firing a G3 in the minutes immediately after the Dow Jones attack and causing over £3,000 worth of damage to a furniture shop next to the club.
Patsalides’ lawyers objected to his being charged with carrying and using an illegal weapon both during the alleged attack on the nightclub and in the alleged attack on the furniture shop 10 minutes later. The judge eventually ruled that these objections could be heard by the Criminal court.
After a lengthy hearing frequently interrupted by defence objections to the state prosecution’s line, Patsalides and Christodoulou were handcuffed and led away to run the media gauntlet outside the court.
The two men, who will remain in custody till Monday’s court appearance, were driven off in a police Black Maria with an escort of police cars and motorbikes.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Nicos Koshis announced that President Clerides had ordered a probe into allegations that police had shown favourable treatment to the TV channel that Demetris Mamas works for, Sigma, during Patsalides’ dramatic surrender in the early hours of Saturday morning. Other television channels have complained that police kept their cameras away as the fugitive gave himself up at police head quarters at 1 am, giving Sigma exclusive coverage.
Koshis said he would be reporting to the Cabinet on the matter today.
Mamas could yet find himself in hot water for secretly interviewing Patsalides while he was still on the run earlier this month, as police have asked the Attorney-general’s office to rule whether Mamas broke any laws with his controversial interview. Mamas insists he did nothing wrong.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
