Forensic evidence might hold key to murder

POLICE EFFORTS to find who was behind the murder of a 20-year-old Kristina Polyntsova this week are continuing relentlessly, police chief Charalambos Koulentis said yesterday.

But despite investigators’ tireless legwork, Koulentis said there was nothing new to announce and that all developments surrounding the Russian woman’s murder and her 31-year-old flatmate’s beating were still being examined.

“The police are trying to use the forensic evidence found at the crime scene… We want to hope that this material evidence in our hands will help lead us to the assailants as part of solving this heinous crime,” he said.

Koulentis was speaking to reporters following a meeting with EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou in light of the end of his stint as police chief at the end of the month.

“Unfortunately we do not at this time have something specific to announce,” he said.

He also said that the police were still going over the statement of the victim’s 31-year-old flatmate’s who was also injured during the attack and has already told police two people were involved.

Despite strong indications to suggest the murder was a break-in gone wrong, Koulentis said all possible scenarios were under investigation including the likelihood that the murder was an act of revenge and staged to look like a break-in.

He added: “The police are not only looking for assailants among people who are involved in break-ins, thefts or robberies.”

Asked whether the assailants were Cypriot or foreign, the police chief said it was not prudent to draw conclusions on the issue as neither attacker had spoken throughout the incident.

Koulentis’ comment comes in the wake of repeated news reports that the duo were “probably foreigners”.

Polyntsova, who died from asphyxiation, was found fully clothed and bound and gagged with tape in her bedroom during the early hours of Monday morning. She and her flatmate had only been in Cyprus since the beginning of the month.