Defendant threatens to kill employer

THERE were tense scenes at a Nicosia court yesterday when a Romanian defendant in the dock for working illegally threatened to kill his boss, who was also in the dock for illegally employing foreigners.

Police officers, who were present throughout the trial, quickly moved in and defused the situation after one of the defendants began shouting and swearing saying ‘that he would track him down one day and kill him’.

Still dressed in their work clothes, the four petrol station employees – the Cypriot manager along with two Romanian men and one Sri Lankan man – stood in the dock accused of working illegally while the Cypriot manager pleaded guilty to employing foreign workers without the necessary documents.

Protesting their innocence, both Romanians said that they had paid a lump sum through the petrol manager to an agent to sort out their work permits at immigration.

The Sri Lankan, however, admitted the charges

But their protests turned to anger when Judge Angelos David ordered that the Romanian men be kept in remand until their trial began. By the time the judge had adjourned the session and walked out of the courtroom, the Romanian men suddenly realised that they would await their trial in prison because they had pleaded not guilty.

“I can’t believe this happening, I don’t want to go back to prison,” shouted one of the men as police officers began to handcuff him. “I am going to be put in jail because I (am) working.”

But his emotions did not reach the point of his compatriot, who began screaming at the petrol manager next to him in the dock. “You just pocketed the money we gave you, didn’t you?
“I swear on my mother that I will hunt you down and kill you, you f–g s–t!”

The man kept shouting and swearing even as police dragged him away from the courtroom saying, “I am not going to forget you, I swear on my mother that I will find you and kill you.”
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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.