THE CAREER criminal who shot Iacovos Kyriakou on Monday told police in a statement he had not meant to kill the father of two, and begged forgiveness from dead man’s family.
Kyriacou, 46, was shot in the stomach at point blank range on Monday after chasing bank robber Zanettos Tsapatsaris, 23, in his car and cornering him in the parking area of a Larnaca supermarket.
Armed Tsapatsaris had only minutes before stolen £7,000 from a Bank of Cyprus branch, where Kyriacou was a customer, and fled on a moped.
When Kyriacou knocked him off the vehicle and confronted him, Tsapatsaris opened fire. Kyriacou died later on the operating table.
Larnaca police chief Soteris Hadjichristofis told reporters yesterday that Tsapatsaris had confessed to the shooting in a written statement but said he did not mean to kill Kyriacou.
“The suspect said he was trying to shoot the victim in the leg to stop him from confronting him,” said Hadjichristofis, adding that Tsapatsaris thought Kyriacou was going to run him over with his car.
“He said he didn’t mean to kill him,” he added.
The police chief also said Tsapatsaris wanted Kyriacou’s family to forgive him and that he had only carried out the robbery because he had no money.
Tsapatsaris, who is currently on an eight-day remand, is facing charges of murder, robbery, theft, and illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Questions have been raised as to why a career criminal like Tsapatsaris was not behind bars given the list of offences still outstanding against him. He had six cases outstanding against him for alleged offence committed in Larnaca, Nicosia, Limassol and Ayia Napa relating to theft and robbery. He also had run-ins with police over drugs possession
Many of the previous cases against Tsapatsaris had either been dropped or ended in a suspended sentence he pleaded guilty, and prior to Monday’s shooting the last charge against him related to a bank robbery. That case had not yet reached the courts.
Kyriacou, who operated a car rental service next door to the bank, was buried on Wednesday in Larnaca. The funeral was attended by hundreds of people, including government officials.
Police had said Kyriacou’s last words on the hospital bed had been about his children Andreas, 12, and Stavroulla, 10.
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