Defence questions know-how of witness

 

THE DEFENCE in the murder trial of media boss Andis Hadjicostis yesterday tried to find faults in audio visual expert Grigoras Catalin’s analysis of video footage and photographs, even questioning his expertise.

Lawyer for one of four suspects, Andreas Gregoriou’s lawyer, Michalis Pikis claimed that the defence cannot rely on the conclusions of Catalin’s report, presented last September to authorities.

On Monday, Catalin presented his analysis of the footage of the motorcycle and van involved in the murder, claiming that the motorcycle caught on CCTV by Finlandia taxi, close to the murder scene, was the same as in a photo of Gregoriou’s bike.

Catalin said there was a “very high probability” not just a possibility, as Pikis tried to point out, that the van caught on CCTV near the murder scene along with the one parked outside Fanos Hadjigeogiou’s apartment is the same one in the photo, part of police evidence and provided by Xenofontos. Hadjigeorgiou has received immunity in exchange for testifying against the four defendants.

Xenofontos was the alleged shooter during Hadjicostis’ murder outside his home on January 11, 2010.

Regarding the motorcycle in the video, again Catalin said there was “a very high probability” that it was the same as the one in police custody. “My opinion does not exclude the possibility that this motorcycle [simply] looks just like it,” said Catalin. However what stood out for Catalin was that the back right light of the motorcycle did not work, leading him to the conclusion that the bike in the CCTV footage and in the photo was the same.

The defence rubbished that remark, saying that there were thousands of motorcycles around that had a broken back right light.

The trial resumes today.

 

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.