Two in custody over murder plot

A 73-YEAR-OLD Cypriot man and a 35 year-old Syrian were arrested and then remanded for five days yesterday, after they allegedly conspired to murder a witness in a rape trial in which the 73-year-old is the man accused.

The men were remanded by the Paphos District Court after facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder and trying to pervert the course of justice, while the Syrian man has also been charged with entering and staying on the island illegally.

The 73-year old is accused of repeatedly raping his Vietnamese house maid and is due to stand trial on January 31, one of the key witnesses in the case is another Vietnamese woman who is friends with the victim.

The Cypriot man befriended the Syrian and allegedly asked him to murder the key witness in the case promising him € 2,000 in cash if he was successful. According to police reports the two then drove to Limassol, where they arranged to meet the witness, but the Vietnamese woman got suspicious and failed to turn up.

Police spokesman Michael Katsounotos said: “The Syrian man informed us off the plot; he tried to do so anonymously at first, but was then convinced to meet police who arrested him.” Katsounotos added that soon after the Cypriot man was arrested.

When asked if the police planned to be lenient with the Syrian man for coming forward,  Katsounotos responded: “The Syrian is illegal in the country and initially agreed to murder the girl. Only after it all went wrong did he call the police, as an act of revenge for not getting his money. Why wouldn’t we charge him?”

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.