Two years for Nicosia stabbing

AN MAN was yesterday jailed for two years after seriously assaulting another man during a brawl outside a Nicosia kiosk.

Egyptian national Fady Nabil Faragalla, 28, had previously pleaded guilty to four charges of carrying a concealed weapon in public place, common assault, causing grievous bodily harm and illegal residence in Cyprus.

The charge of attempted murder against Faragalla was dropped by state prosecutor Rikkos Mappourides.

The incident took place at around 5.30pm on August 24 this year outside the ‘Maro’ kiosk in Aglandja.

According to the prosecution, Faragalla and a friend met with Palestinian asylum seekers Mahdy Al Nagar Gazy and Yousef Rabaia so that Faragalla’s friend could discuss financial differences with the men over the sale of a car.

At some point, the argument turned violent, resulting in Faragalla pulling out a sharp object and attacking the two Palestinians. During the scuffle, 24-year-old Gazy suffered a 20cm gash to his left arm and needed extensive surgery to heal severed nerves.

Faragalla was arrested at his Nicosia apartment a couple of hours later.

Rabaia also sustained slight injuries to his thigh in the fight again from the object used by Faragalla.

During a recent mitigation hearing, Faragalla’s defence lawyer Costas Loizou told the Criminal Court that his client had been provoked just before the attack when Gazy pushed him.

The court had also heard how Faragalla had a wife in Egypt who was eight months pregnant.

Jailing him for two years yesterday, the court decision read, “The court accepts that the defendant had no prior differences with the plaintiff.

“But that didn’t stop him from lashing out at them with a dangerous weapon after the argument broke out.

“The consequences of his actions were dire because one of the plaintiffs ended up in surgery. Thankfully, however, he has fully recovered now.”

Faragalla, a carpenter by profession, came to Cyprus in 2002 where at a warehouse in Nicosia.

After his work permit expired in April this year, he remained in Cyprus and was also charged with illegal residence.

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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.