I’d never thought I’d be a victim of crime in Cyprus

Sir,
I am writing in connection with the article in the Sunday Mail last month regarding the increasing crime rate in Paphos.

I myself have been a victim of a serious crime. Travelling home from work on the back of my husband’s scooter one night along the Tomb of the Kings Road a car pulled alongside us and slashed the straps on my handbag. They sped away towards Coral Bay too fast to pursue. The police held no hope of getting back my bag and belongings event though I gave them the car number. At the time, I had passports and other documents which I had needed that day in my bag, plus phone, glasses and things of no importance to anyone but me.

The inconvenience of getting everything replaced and the cost is even more upsetting (£103 for passports alone) more than the originals cost.

If anyone has found my handbag and contents please hand it into the police station, there are photographs that I cannot replace. I never thought when I moved to Paphos that I would have to write a letter like this about such terrible behaviour.

Sylvia Burrows, Chlorakas

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.