THE BODY of a Romanian mother of three was pulled from a well in Potamia in the Nicosia district in the early hours of yesterday after an all-night search following an alleged murder confession by her Turkish Cypriot husband.
Police said the body of 30-year-old Ramona Ion Selim was found yesterday in the Agrimi area of Potamia at around 5am, after the all-night effort by the police and fire brigade that had started at 9pm on Monday.
She had been missing since Saturday and had been strangled.
The 20-metre-deep well, located in a field belonging to her husband’s father, had to be drained of water before the body could be recovered, police said.
They said the woman’s husband Kemal Selim, 42, had confessed on Monday night to strangling her and throwing her body into the well. A search was launched immediately.
Police had been informed by the victim’s sister that she was due to meet her husband on the Saturday afternoon of her disappearance. The victim worked at the Super Home Centre on the outskirts of Nicosia.
Footage provided by a security camera close to the shop confirmed the meeting between the couple. The footage showed the victim getting into the suspect’s car.
Selim was subsequently arrested. He initially denied the rendez-vous, but when confronted with the CCTV footage, he broke down and confessed, police said.
Nicosia Chief of Police, Kypros Michaelides said yesterday: “Until this point we had viewed this as a case of abduction. We questioned the suspect, and within a very short time, he confessed that in fact he had killed his wife and had thrown her into a well, the location of which he then told us.”
It appears that domestic dispute was at the root of the crime. The couple had recently separated, and issues such as the car they both claimed to own had become sources of bitter argument.
Last month the young woman’s flat in Engomi was set on fire, and the Michaelides said police were now re-investigating the link between the suspect and the arson attack as well. The police described Selim as suffering from “pathological jealousy.”
The couple had been married for 10 years, and had three young children. The victim had been a permanent resident of Cyprus for the last 13 years. On Monday she was registered as missing by her brother, who became worried after not having being able to contact her since last Saturday.
Selim wa yesterday remanded in custody for eight days, and is currently awaiting psychiatric evaluation.
According to human rights group Apanemi, between 1980 and 2006, some 20 per cent of all murders have resulted from domestic disputes with women being the victims of their husbands. The group said the government was doing little about it.
