NICOSIA police have extended the remand of a woman suspected of practicing witchcraft and defrauding various people out of large sums of money.
On September 25, Vera Georgiou, 39, was arrested on suspicion of fraud, sorcery and intention to conceal a crime.
According to investigators, Georgiou had managed to defraud various people out of large sums of money, telling them she needed to perform spells to rid them of curses placed on them by other people.
Last week, the Nicosia Court had heard how Georgiou had managed to swindle £496,000 from a female bank clerk between May 2005 and July 2006.
Yesterday, she was remanded for a further four days, after fresh evidence suggested the woman had swindled two men in Nicosia out of £18,000 and some furniture.
Appearing in court yesterday, clad in loudly coloured clothes and sporting blonde streaked hair, Georgiou listened impassively as case investigator Sergeant Heraklis Pitsillis asked the court to extend her remand after more complaints were filed against the suspect.
“Between June and August 2002, the suspect managed to obtain £1,430 in cash out of the plaintiff, after the suspect was asked by the plaintiff to solve her family problems.
Holding the plaintiff by the shoulders, she told her that she had been cursed and that sorcery would be needed to rid her of the spell,” Pitsillis told the court.
He continued: “Between May and September 2005, the suspect again managed to obtain the cash sum of £7,000 as well as £6,270 worth of furniture by telling a man that she would need to perform sorcery to rid him of a deadly curse somebody had imposed on him from abroad.”
The court also heard of another case in which Georgiou reportedly told another woman she would die of a curse unless she paid her to rid her of the spell. She had allegedly defrauded her out of a total of £3,700.
Summing up, Investigator Pitsillis told the court that the police had so far taken 70 statements from various people who had crossed paths with Georgiou. He also said efforts were under way to arrest another two people believed to have been collaborating with Georgiou.
Judge Alexandros Panayiotou said the prosecution’s remand request was justified, ordering that the suspect be detained in police custody for a further four days.
Last week, a Nicosia court heard a similar case involving 68-year-old Hariye Rezvanoglu, who pleaded not guilty to conning a man from Acropolis in Nicosia by telling him he had been cursed and she could cure him for £500.
She goes on trial on November 27.
