IN THE ongoing trial for the murder of Sigma boss Andis Hadjicostis, the defence yesterday sought to cast doubt on the testimony of a ballistics expert who earlier told the court that both fatal shots were fired from the same weapon.
Police officer Victoras Akamas, a witness for the prosecution, was being cross-examined by the defence, which questioned the accuracy of the report he filed following ballistics tests on the two cartridges recovered from the crime scene.
A day earlier, Akamas told the court the victim was killed by two shots to the chest. The first was from around two metres away when the victim was exiting his car, and the second about a metre away, he said.
The witness said the cartridges indicated that the weapon used was a hunting-type carbine, and that this type of ammunition was banned in Cyprus and therefore must have been obtained illegally.
The actual murder weapon has not been recovered since last January, when Hadjicostis was gunned down outside his Nicosia home.
Defence lawyers yesterday showed Akamas a series of photographs of various firearms, and asked the witness to identify their type. The police officer said each of their firearms could be classified as hunting-type weapons.
In a bid to discredit the expert, the defence responded that the firearms on exhibit were not in fact used for hunting, therefore the report written up by Akamas was incorrect.
The report should instead have noted that the murder weapon was a rifle “which can be loaded with cartridges used for hunting purposes,” the defence said.
Responding, the witness clarified that it is the type of ammunition which characterises a weapon, and not so much the type of weapon. For example, he said, a hunting weapon is classified as such not because it is the type used by hunters, but because of the type of ammunition it takes.
The defence next questioned the reliability of police tests carried out by Akamas at a shooting range whose purpose was to demonstrate the damage caused by the specific type of ammunition when fired from different distances. The defence suggested to Akamas that the tests could not accurately determine the firing distance, suggesting that the tests did not prove the police conclusions beyond a reasonable doubt.
The witness was also asked produce the material used in the tests and the subsequent report.
Akamas said he did not have the ammunition with him at the time, but could present them to the court if needed.
The defendants in the trial are: TV presenter Elena Skordelli, 42; her 37-year-old brother Tasos Krasopoulis; Andreas Georgiou, 33; and 29-year-old Gregoris Xenofontos, who was extradited back to Cyprus from Moldova, where he had fled shortly after the crime and was eventually arrested.
