TWENTY-two-year-old Rodosthenis Christodolou was yesterday remanded in custody for eight days in connection with aiding and abetting escaped convict Antonis Prokopiou Kitas, alias Al Capone.
The Nicosia district court heard that Christodoulou had allegedly helped Kitas escape from the Appollonion private hospital on December 12 and that he had been the driver of the getaway car.
The Geri village man also told police he had spent New Year’s Eve with the 42-year-old double rapist and murderer, and that on January 2 they had parted ways. Christodoulou said he had gone to Paphos before turning himself in on Thursday morning. He also allegedly told investigators that neither he nor Kitas ever went to the occupied areas during the three and a half weeks the pair had been on the run.
Police are still looking for Lefteris Demetriou, 26, also from Geri, in connection with the case.
Although Kitas is still refusing to talk, he allegedly named three police officers to whom he passed on drugs information. The lifer is also believed to have told criminal investigators that he will only co-operate under certain conditions.
According to Kitas, certain members of his family have been threatened by certain police officers, including his wife and other relatives. The 42-year-old is believed to be taking these threats extremely seriously and has asked that his loved ones be protected. He has also supposedly asked for one of the five criminal investigators appointed to examine the case to be removed for reasons of partiality.
Assistant Attorney-general Akis Papasavvas, who visited Kitas on Thursday, confirmed the prisoner’s fears.
“There was a request from the Central Prisons and it was deemed pertinent to visit,” he said.
In a democratic state, every citizen had a right to have his or her human rights protected, he said – “all citizens, whether they are a convicted to life imprisonment, or whether they are a relative of a person convicted to life imprisonment,” Papasavvas said.
Regarding reports that Kitas was unhappy with one of the criminal investigators, Papasavvas said he did not want to “confirm or deny” them.
Apparently Kitas said he kept the phone numbers of officers who used to contact him for information. The 42-year-old is also thought to have implied that on the night of his escape he was involved in a drugs bust under the protection of the Drugs Squad and that one of the passengers in the getaway vehicle was a Drugs Squad officer.
None of this information has been confirmed, although it verifies information from a source at the Central Prisons. According to the source, the reason three Drugs Squad cars had arrived on the scene so quickly was because they had already been monitoring Kitas. Police have repeatedly denied their involvement.
A further request made by Kitas before he agreed to talk was that none of the prison guards allocated to the Appollonion be punished for his escape, as they were blameless and knew nothing.
Whether the 42-year-old’s demands will be accepted is not known. Nevertheless police are being kept out of the investigation and will only serve to assist the criminal investigators in an effort to avoid any cover up.
Meanwhile, the government yesterday admitted the whole Kitas debacle smacked of corruption.
What happened could not have come out of nowhere, said Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou.
“There has to be corruption somewhere, which must be dealt with,” he said.
Stefanou said the government would strive to sort out the situation that had ensued, however difficult that might be.
Not surprisingly, the Government Spokesman also refrained from further comment pending the ongoing criminal investigation. He also refused to confirm media reports that Kitas had named three police officers as his accomplices.
“Based on the outcome of the investigation, responsibility will be apportioned where necessary and steps will also be taken so that such phenomena are not repeated,” he said.
“We have from the beginning said the Antonis Prokopiou case could not have come out of nowhere. There is an infection somewhere, there is corruption, which we must deal with, and this government will work towards dealing with this situation, however hard dealing with this problem is,” he said.
