A NICOSIA businessman was yesterday fined €1,000 after he was found guilty of sending insulting and threatening text messages to a former business associate in Greece.
The 60-year-old was acquitted of a series of other similar charges due to insufficient evidence to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt.
The man had been accused of harassing two men based in Greece during the final months of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 with whom he’d had former business dealings. The harassment had been in the form of text and voice messages provoked by a breakdown in business relations between the 60-year-old’s company and an international lingerie company. The Nicosia man blamed the duo for losing his Swiss client when they took over the handling and distribution of the company’s product for Cyprus as well as Greece.
According to the judge there had not been enough evidence to convict the 60-year-old of all charges. This was because there had not been enough proof to convince the court that no one else could have used one of his two phones to send the specific messages.
Regarding the voice messages the complainants had been unable to identify the Cypriot man’s voice with complete certainty. There was also some discrepancy between the testimonies of the two prosecution witnesses regarding the number of times the defendant had left voice messages.
Nevertheless the judge ruled that both complainants’ testimonies had been strong and convincing, unlike the defendant who the judge said had made a bad impression on the court.
Also unconvincing had been the 60-year-old’s efforts to paint himself as someone who had not been involved in the day-to-day running of the business and therefore had no reason to send threatening messages when in fact it emerged that he was the company’s kingpin. The judge said the 60-year-old not only did not like the fact that his co-operation with the leading international lingerie company had come to an end, but he had been “enraged” by it.
The 60-year-old, who has a heart condition and has been forced into early retirement because of it, was fined €1,000 and instructed to settle in full by today. The charge carries a maximum sentence of €1,708. He was also told to pay €325 in court expenses.
