Police claim man confesses to murder

A 29-YEAR-OLD man has been remanded for eight days by a Nicosia Court in connection with the murder of a man on Tuesday night

Christoforos Charalambous, a resident of Tseri, is to be charged with the premeditated murder of 45-year-old Yiannos Demosthenous after being arrested on Friday lunchtime.

Demosthenous’ body was found in a partially decomposed state on Thursday inside a flat in the Ayioi Omoloyites suburb of Nicosia.

Demosthenous was originally from Pyrgos in the Tylliria area of the island, but had moved to the Nicosia district and was currently living in the village of Astromeritis.
Reports say the victim had been renting a flat in Nicosia for the past couple of months – the same flat in which he was found dead.

Police had been called to the scene after residents complained of a foul smell coming from the victim’s apartment. Fire officers had to break down the door to get in.

State pathologist Sophocles Sophocleous said the victim carried a total of 38 stab wounds, 14 of which were defensive.

Blood stains were found both inside and outside the flat.

According to Nicosia CID Investigators, Charalambous told officers in his statement that he had killed Demosthenous with a kitchen knife because the victim was having an affair with his Kyrgyz wife.

Charalambous also claimed Demosthenous had been telling his wife to leave him.

Police are understood to have another witness saying Charalambous had threatened
Demosthenous in the past, saying he would kill him if he ever went near his wife again.

According to Charalambous, both he and his wife escaped to the occupied north after the incident, but after an argument, he left her and came back to the south.
His wife is believed to be still in the north.

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