A TEENAGER was yesterday arrested and remanded in police custody in connection with a hit-and-run accident that left a 16-year-old pedestrian in hospital.
Giorgos Antoniou was struck by a car as he tried to cross Giorgos Kranidiotis Street in Latsia on Tuesday evening. The driver of the car abandoned the scene of the accident, leaving the injured boy bleeding on the road.
He was later taken to the Surgical Ward at Nicosia General Hospital, where he is being treated for multiple injuries and bruises to the head.
Yesterday, case investigator Giorgos Pechlivanis said that the suspect, 19-year-old Petros Antoniou from Latsia, was under investigation on seven counts of causing an accident by means of negligent driving, abandoning the scene of an accident, driving a vehicle without the consent of the vehicle owner and driving a vehicle without insurance, MOT and road tax.
“According to an eyewitness,” the investigator told the court yesterday, “the car was a white Mazda which had dents at the front and on the bonnet. At the scene, we recovered a broken side mirror.”
Pechlivanis went to say that further investigations led to the location of the car, registration number HYM 703, which “belongs to the grandmother of the suspect”.
“The car was later located in the buffer zone close to the village of Pyri and had dents matching the eye witness report. The right mirror was missing and it appeared that somebody had tried to torch the vehicle.”
The 19-year-old was finally arrested after the witness recognised him at the police station.
After being read his rights, the suspect told officers, “I have nothing to say”.
During questioning, Antoniou denied any wrongdoing.
“We have so far taken down five statements and will be also taking a further 15 statements from friends and family members of the suspect as well as officials of Mazda, who are set to make an identification between the car and the car parts found at the scene of the accident,” added the investigator.
“Other items found at the scene and in the car will also be taken to forensics for DNA testing.”
Yesterday, the Nicosia District Court remanded Antoniou in police custody for three days.
The incident is the third hit-and-run incident in two weeks.
On Sunday, a 74-year old driver abandoned two pedestrians after seriously injuring them with his car on 28th October Street in Limassol, while in a separate incident in Larnaca the week before a driver struck and abandoned two motorcyclists.
On July 27 this year, a drunk driver was jailed for three years for fatally injuring a boy of 17 in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Savvas Savva, 29 from Tseri, pleaded guilty to causing the death of Giorgos Mavrikios by negligent driving and abandoning the scene of the accident.
