Leonidas Demetriou’s death brings this year’s heroin toll to four
A 27-year-old Nicosia man was yesterday remanded in custody for four days on suspicion of supplying the heroin that killed a convict on Wednesday.
Father of two Leonidas Demetriou, 26, was found dead in a hotel apartment while on day release from prison.
The court heard that Demetriou was picked up from prison on Tuesday afternoon by his girlfriend, 18-year-old Carolina Elzarou along with three other friends.
He was picked up at 5pm and an hour later he told his friends to drive him to a specific place in Nicosia where he met someone.
They returned to Larnaca and later that night he checked into a hotel apartment with Elzarou.
They both injected heroin and then fell asleep, the court heard.
The 18-year-old found Demetriou dead the next morning and she notified the police.
In the room, Police found used syringes, some heroin and other drug paraphernalia as well as a small quantity of cannabis in Elzarou’s possession.
Through testimony given by the girlfriend and her companions who went along to pick him from the prison, police were led to the arrest of Demetris Herodotou who admitted meeting the deceased who had offered to buy half a gram of heroin for £50.
Herodotou however, claimed he did not sell Demetriou the fatal hit because he did not have any drugs.
Police said they found a piece of paper on the deceased with several phone numbers, including the suspect’s.
It was also said in court that Demetriou had used his girlfriend’s mobile phone to call the suspect.
Demetriou’s father Christodoulos, blamed the prison administration for his son’s death.
“They should have notified me that they granted him leave so that I could protect him, instead of his friends picking him up with their drugs,” the father said.
Speaking outside the morgue, Christodoulos Demetriou suggested that drug dealers should be shot like the animals “with a gun to the head”.
State pathologist Panicos Stavrianos said the man’s death was caused by acute stroke and pulmonary oedema.
It is understood that Demetriou, serving a seven-month term for burglaries, theft and forging cheques, had been clean for the past six months and he died because his body could not cope with the drug after such a long time.
The same cause of death is suspected in the death of a 45-year-old from Nicosia who was found dead in the bathtub by his father also on Tuesday.
In his case, the post mortem found that he died from a heart attack, brought about by the intravenous use of heroin after abstaining for a long period.
The two deaths have raised the number of drug-related deaths since the beginning of the year to four.
A foreigner was found dead from the use of drugs in his Paphos flat a few days ago while a 25-year-old man was found dead on a Nicosia park bench shortly afterwards.
Though not official, his death also is thought to be the result of drug use.
Eleven people died from drug overdoses last year.
The deputy chief of the drug squad said that it had become a continuous struggle.
“Our concern is greater now because we’ve had four deaths since the beginning of the year that we believe are drugs-related, directly or indirectly,” Gavriel Gavriel said.
He said the number of users has risen, especially among youths, while 2004 displayed an increase in drug seizures.
Gavriel noted that the squad’s main aim was to curb supply by targeting dealers and taking the drugs off the market.
Justice Minister Doros Theodorou said he was saddened because people continued to die from drugs use.
He vowed however to continue the fight and suggested to look into the possibility of not letting convicts who were users out on leave.
Police have been accused for going after users and not suppliers.
But the force countered that laws should be changed to help them fight drugs.
Gavriel referred to the case of one dealer who has five cases against him.
The courts are asked to remand them in custody until their trial but they do not and the minute they are out they go on with their work, he said.
