Three detained as police try to resolve case of ‘minor altercation’, ‘no altercation’ or brutal beating’

Limassol police are trying to resolve a case in which a 48-year-old Greek Cypriot claimed he had been beaten by three Turkish Cypriots and a Romanian man last Tuesday at the village of Agridia, in Limassol.

Police have so far detained three of the four men – two Turkish Cypriots and the Romanian man – whom the 48-year-old alleged had attacked him on Tuesday afternoon.

Initially, a couple of news outlets had reported the incident as a “brutal beating” and that the man was being treated in hospital in serious condition, but it appeared on Friday that that was not the case.

One of the reports, in Phileleftheros, said the man had caught the four suspects inside his orchard stealing fruit. He had confronted them with a crowbar, which they managed to wrest from his hand and used it to beat him, it was claimed.

Far from it, however, daily Alithia newspaper reported that the 48-year-old was not seriously injured – a CT scan found no internal injuries either.

A Limassol police spokesman confirmed that the man had some “not serious” superficial injuries. The spokesman said the man had seen a car with Turkish Cypriot plates and stopped them to ask what they were doing there. He was alone at the scene.

According to police, he did so because he had been a victim of theft in the past.

The suspects denied ever getting into an altercation with the 48-year-old, telling police they were working on a construction site in the area.

They said they had driven by the area and had also waved but there was no fight.

The police spokesman said they had collected samples from the clothes of all involved in a bid to ascertain whether there had been some kind of altercation.