A PAKISTANI youth and his Chinese roommate were yesterday jailed for life for the murder of a 38-year-old contractor, while his wife was found guilty of manslaughter and faces a long stretch behind bars.
Bank employee Magda Eleftheriou, 33, her Pakistani lover Zeeshan Asghar, 22, and his Chinese roommate Yu Hong Bo, 28, faced premeditated murder and conspiracy charges in connection with the murder of Pavlos Christododoulou on July 17 last year.
Christodoulou was ambushed in the lobby of a Nicosia apartment block and beaten on the head with metal pipes before he was burnt in the boot of his BMW.
In its 100-page unanimous decision, the court said that no premeditation had been proved against Magda, thus she could not be found guilty as charged.
The President of the Nicosia Assizes Court, Michalis Christodoulou, who read the final part of the decision (the three judges Christodoulou, Leonidas Kalogirou and Andreas Panayiotou took turns in reading the hefty decision) said, however, that the evidence was enough to convict her of manslaughter.
In the case of manslaughter, it is enough to prove intention to commit an act which led to the death, the court heard.
And her conviction was mainly based on a statement she made to police many hours after Pavlos was confirmed dead.
“He told me they would hit him to cancel the trip to the UK,” Magda told the head of the Nicosia CID Kypros Michaelides.
The statement’s accuracy was hotly disputed by the defence, which called on the court to disregard it.
The circumstances in which the statement had been given were examined in a trial within a trial, one of eight, and the court at the time decided to make it admissible.
The court noted that while Magda new about her husband’s meeting with Asghar – it was set up as a business appointment – she failed to reveal it to police until 8pm the next day.
“She revealed the affair and made the statement when she realised that the police had her lover’s mobile number and to withhold it further would not be beneficial,” Christodoulou said.
The court also noted her unwillingness to show officers her lover’s flat – she guided them around Nicosia for hours until she finally owned up.
“Not only she did not reveal her husband’s meeting but she also tried to mislead police.
“And she held this stance since 3am when she knew her husband was dead,” the court said.
She claimed that the reason why she did not say anything was because she had panicked.
“This is not convincing at all,” the court said.
The court heard that Magda held this position for over 16 hours and said it was inconsistent with her claim of panic.
Judges concluded her stance showed that she had some involvement with what had happened – as was revealed with her statement, which revealed Asghar was not alone and that they would hit Pavlos in a bid to cancel the trip.
“Based on her statement, what Asghar told her was not a vague threat,” the court said;
it had a specific form, content and aim.
“If she had not agreed with that she would not have let her husband go to the meeting.
“She did not withdraw and even informed her lover when Pavlos left the house (to go to the meeting),” the court said.
For her two co-defendants, things were more straightforward.
They awaited the victim with the intention to kill him; both were calm and had ample chance to think again, the court said.
“But they did not; they did so in a calm, cold way.
“It does not matter who dealt the deadly blow.
“What is important is that both had ample chance to think again but they did not,” the court said.
Premeditation was fully proven and the two are found guilty as charged, the court said.
Premeditated murder carries an automatic life sentence.
The court stressed its sadness in having to impose a life sentence: “two youths came to our country with dreams and hopes of a new life; their dreams became nightmares for them and the victim’s family.
“Their hopes were killed the moment they killed Pavlos,” the court said.
Magda will be sentenced on Tuesday.
Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, though a legal source said 10 to 15 years should be expected in this case.
But relatives of the victim did not appear satisfied with the decision.
“We think she should have got life too,” said Pavlos’ sister Militsa.
“She took away my brother; all I want to know is why she killed him.
“She had everything,” Militsa said.
She added: “She is a monster.”
Main prosecution lawyer Rikkos Mappourides said the decision was right, complete and substantiated.
“Justice was served,” Mappourides said.
He added that the prosecution was not going to appeal the decision.
Defence attorney Costas Efstathiou, however, said he was planning to appeal after sentencing.
