A NICOSIA Criminal Court yesterday heard how a man had fought frantically before succumbing to his injuries during a harrowing double-murder trial.
Christoforos Charalambous, 27, from Askas village in the Nicosia district, has denied two charges of premeditated murder against his wife Anna Vasileva, 30 from Kyrgyzstan, and her 45-year-old lover Yiannos Demosthenous.
Charalambous is believed by police to have stabbed Demosthenous 38 times with a kitchen knife on August 1 last year at his Nicosia apartment.
Yesterday, State pathologist Sophocles Sophocleous took the stand and told the court that he had made three reports on the case.
Listening with great interest, a smartly dressed Charalambous showed little emotion as Sofocleous stated that Demosthenous had put up a fight before bleeding to death from the frenzied attack.
“When I first saw the victim, he was lying face down in a pool of blood. I also saw blood everywhere in the bathroom, in the apartment building stairwell and in the car park. The body was in a bad state of decomposition.”
Previously, the court had heard from Demosthenous’ neighbours that he had gone missing for several weeks and it was only after foul smell began seeping from his apartment that the police were called in.
“The victim was stabbed a total of 38 times with a sharp instrument most likely to be a knife”, said Sophocleous. “From the blows, it was discovered that around 14 to 15 strikes were defensive cuts to his arms…The cause of death was massive blood loss.”
Responding to questions from defence lawyer Stelios Chimonas, Sophocleous said, “My pathology results reveal that it would not only have taken great force to inflict those kind of injuries on the victim but it would also have taken a good deal of time.”
The pathologist said that he had also examined Charalambous after the attack and observed scratches on his stomach and arms. Charalambous informed him that one scratch was from a knife and that the rest were from his work.
Sophocleous also made a report made on the crime scene outside Charalambous’ village where charred skeletal remains and teeth were found inside a barrel.
The remains were so badly burnt that they were not able to be formally identified as those of Vasileva, police still charged Charalambous with her premeditated murder.
It is the first time that somebody is being tried for murder in Cyprus without a positive ID being made on the body.
Officers believe Charalambous snapped when he found out that his wife planned to leave him to go and live with Demosthenous.
He initially claimed that his wife had escaped to the north, but then reportedly broke down under questioning, telling police he would lead them to the spot where the woman’s body was.
Escorted by the suspect, officers found skeletal remains inside a metal barrel in an isolated area outside the remote mountain village of Askas. Charalambous denies killing his wife, saying she had asked to be cremated.
If found guilty, Charalambous could get life imprisonment.
The trial continues today.
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