Murder suspects kept in for eight more days

POLICE have renewed the remand of two Romanian nationals suspected of having murdered a man from Meniko village in Nicosia.

Constantin Solomon, 45, and Mihaela Foltic, 28, are under investigation for conspiracy to commit murder and premeditated murder of 53-year-old Giorgos Diomedous.

According to investigators, Foltic, who is also pregnant, has made a second statement admitting that she was having an affair with both men.

The woman had previously told police that she was being forced by Solomon to have an affair with him and that she only wanted to be with the victim, Diomedous.

Police had previously told the court that the victim had been returning to his home with Foltic when somebody approached him and stabbed him as he went to enter the house. Diomedous sustained two fatal stab wounds to his lungs and was pronounced dead on arrival at Nicosia General Hospital at 7.51pm.

His last words before dying in a pool of blood outside his house were, “I’m going to die; Mavros [Blacky] stabbed me”.

Mavros is understood to be Solomon’s nickname.

Yesterday, the investigator said police had so far taken 85 statements from friends and relatives of the victim and the suspects and that another 40 were still needed.

He added that phone records for Solomon and Foltic were also to be requested from CyTA and Areeba.

The two suspects were seen by neighbours running away from the victim’s home hand-in-hand just after the crime.

They were later found in an isolated area close to the village. Solomon tried to run away but he was stopped by arresting officers.

After being placed under arrest, Solomon told officers, “I had the knife with me, but I didn’t want to hurt him. I had been drinking before and I threw the knife away in the river close to where the police found me.”

Foltic denies any wrongdoing

Yesterday, Judge Angelos David remanded Solomon and Foltic in police custody for a further eight days.