THE wife of a murdered man said her husband knew of her affair with a Pakistani college student after he discovered a message on her mobile phone.
She said the Pakistani was obsessed with her and pressured her to divorce her husband; otherwise he wanted them to die together.
Bank employee Magda Eleftheriou, 32, Zeeshan Asghar, 22, and his 28-year-old Chinese roommate Yu Hong Bo, are facing premeditated murder and conspiracy charges over the brutal killing of Magda’s husband Pavlos Christodoulou.
The 38-year-old contractor was bludgeoned and then burnt to death in the boot of his BMW on July 17, 2004.
But as it transpired yesterday, Pavlos knew of his wife’s affair with Asghar at least two months before his murder.
The court heard the statement given to police by Magda on July 18.
She was not under arrest at the time but was detained half way through her statement after certain things she said raised suspicion that she could be involved.
Magda said she met Asghar (whom at the time she presented to police as 25-year-old Mohamed Aziz from Bangladesh) in December 2003.
They started an affair but in May 2004 Pavlos found out from a message Asghar had sent Magda on her mobile phone.
After that the couple argued and Pavlos asked Magda to cancel her phone card, the court heard. He also called Asghar and told him not to bother his wife again.
However, in a previous hearing, the court heard the same things regarding a 23-year-old Greek Cypriot lover Magda had before she started the affair with Asghar.
In any case, her affair with the Pakistani man did not end there because she had feelings for him. She said she continued to call him from the bank and her parents and sister’s houses when they were absent.
The court heard that Asghar had asked for Magda’s photograph and those of Pavlos and their two daughters.
He implied that he wanted to see Pavlos because he was going to ‘sort’ him out.
At this point, Magda was cautioned by the CID officer Katy Sophocleous, who proceeded to interrogate her.
Magda said she gave him the photographs of her family because she was convinced he wanted to see her and get to know her family.
“It did not cross my mind that he would hurt them,” the court heard.
She claimed she could not leave Asghar because she got attached, plus she feared that he would hurt himself if she left him.
Magda told the police that she told Pavlos about the threats one month before his murder.
She also informed him that she had not broken up with Asghar and that the couple argued.
The 32-year-old woman said she did not want to break up her marriage: “He loved me more than I loved him and I did not want to hurt him.”
On July 16, a day before the murder, Magda called Asghar and told him she was going on a trip to the UK, something he already knew and resented.
They met outside his house on the same day and she told him she could not be with him, the court heard.
He said: “Leave it to me” but Magda did not take it seriously.
The court heard that Pavlos knew he was meeting Asghar on the night of the murder, and not a business client as previously heard.
Magda said she knew about the 9pm meeting but did not know how it had been arranged.
“When Pavlos left the house (to go to the meeting) I called Shan from a kiosk,” she told police.
She said she did not try to stop the meeting because she did not believe Asghar was capable of hurting anyone.
And she notified him of Pavlos’ departure because Asghar had asked her.
Magda said did not call Pavlos when she saw that he was late because she fell asleep believing everything was all right.
She did call him at 3.30am, when she woke up, but there was no answer, she said.
“I am sorry for my husband’s death; I did not expect this tragic development,” she told officers at the time.
Magda denied she conspired with Asghar and Bo to kill her husband, saying that she did not want to end her marriage or hurt Pavlos.
She said her relationship with Asghar got out of her control and that he was putting pressure on her to meet more often and not to have sex with her husband.
