MEDIA owner Andis Hadjicostis was shot dead outside his Nicosia home last night.
Eyewitnesses said a hooded man shot the managing director of Sigma television twice at point blank range at 8.30pm and then ran off through a nearby walkway where he was picked up by a second man on a motorbike.
Hadjicostis’ second wife, clothes designer Efi Papaioannou, and her two daughters were in the house at the time of the shooting.
Within minutes neighbours who heard the shots in the normally quiet Engomi residential area gathered at the scene. The 43-year-old victim’s mother arrived soon after along with close friends and family.
A neighbour opened up her home to the victim’s devastated family as his wife wailed in grief at the loss of her husband.
“Andi, my Andi, my love, my life,” she said repeatedly as her friends tried desperately to calm her down without success.
Police quickly cordoned off a portion of the Eleon swimming pool side street as Hadjicostis’ lifeless body lay on the ground outside his car. A witness said he had seen blood spattered across the 43-year-old’s chest.
Grown men sobbed openly as news of the death of their beloved employer and friend rippled through the gathering crowd. One man leaned over a car retching and shaking his head.
“I can’t believe it,” he said over and over again.
DISY deputy Stella Kyriakides who is a clinical psychologist was also on the scene to lend her professional support to the family. Kyriakides was overheard giving instructions to remove the two young girls from a backstreet and to have them taken to a friend’s house nearby so that they would not have to witness the horror of their dead stepfather.
Hadjicostis’ mother sat sobbing in a chair unable to take in the news that her son had been taken from her. The 43-year-old’s father, Costis who was the founder of the Dias Group to which Sigma belongs, was in Greece last night and contacted by friends to return home as soon as possible.
By 10pm people who heard the news were still flocking to the area.
“What happened? What do you mean he was shot? Who? Who?” shocked relatives and friends asked in disbelief before breaking down in tears.
“What sort of world are we living in? Stealing flags, stealing bodies from graves and now this? What world are we living in?” a bewildered onlooker muttered.
The chilling news left everyone in the normally sleepy neighbourhood stunned as women clung to each other weeping desperately. One neighbour rushed off to get a blanket to throw over Papaioannou who was inconsolable outside a neighbour’s house repeatedly asking if her husband was really dead.
“At 8pm he was talking to me about his visions and now this. What sort of society have we become,” a senior Sigma staff member said.
Police remained tight lipped surrounding details of the case and by late last night there was no indication as to what had motivated the horrific attack.
Hadjicostis was the Managing Director of Dias publishing group, the largest media company in Cyprus. He started working in the media field upon the completion of his studies in Germany.
The group runs and owns the Sigma television station and Proto radio station. Hadjicostis was the publisher of Simerini newspaper and also of the Cyprus edition of the magazines Time Out, Harpers Bazaar, OK and Madame Figaro and also published To Periodiko and Teletheatis.
