TWENTY-two-year-old James Goodwin and his parents yesterday broke down into tears after hearing the young man had escaped a possible three-year prison sentence and instead received a six-month suspended sentence after he admitted to aiding the suspects accused in the killing of a teenager in the Famagusta district last month.
Clearly relieved at the ruling, the trio embraced while James and his mother openly wept.
Minutes earlier during sentencing, the Goodwins had been clutching hands, anxiety etched across their faces, while their young son stood nervously in the dock as the court translator told him the judge’s ruling.
The judge based his decision on the role the 22-year-old had played in securing testimony against three other Britons who are facing willful manslaughter charges for their alleged part in the death of 17-year-old Christos Michalakis Papiris in Protaras on August 18.
Luke Atkinson, 22, Michael Binnington, 21, and 39-year-old Julian Harrington were arrested after eye-witnesses said they had seen a rental car ram into a moped on which Papiris was riding pillion. Upon impact, the teenager was hurled into a lamppost and killed instantly. His friend who was driving the vehicle suffered a broken pelvis and other injuries.
Goodwin had not been in the car that night. His involvement with the incident was “aiding suspects in the knowledge they had committed a crime”, which carries a maximum prison sentence of three years imprisonment and illegal possession of a knife, which carries a penalty of up to one year imprisonment. The Briton pleaded guilty on both counts.
Judge Christos Philippou said Goodwin’s young age, his clean record, his honest nature, and his willingness to co-operate with police had played a role in his decision to hand down a six month sentence, suspended for three years.
“Nevertheless, this sentence is still an imprisonment and if at any time in the next three years the defendant appears in court for charges which carry a sentence of imprisonment, the judge can implement this imprisonment,” he said.
The judge said Goodwin had not been aware the three other men had killed Papiris when he responded to Harrington’s call for help and picked him up from the scene, helping him hide from police. Instead he had been under the impression that the men had been involved in a hit and run and that someone had been injured.
As for the knife, Philippou said Goodwin had offered the information without police knowing about it, an indication of his honesty.
The judge also said media reports both in Cyprus and the UK had portrayed the 22-year-old as a murder suspect, blackening his name both here and at home and that he had suffered much punishment since his detention almost three weeks ago.
