Sri Lankan murdered in Limassol (Update 2)

Police have issued an arrest warrant for a 49-year-old Sri Lankan man in connection with the murder of a 45-year-old compatriot in a Limassol apartment in the early hours of Monday.

The suspect Anurasiri Hewabattage

The suspect, Anurasiri Hewabattage, is illegally in Cyprus and had been deported in 2011, but he came back on another passport which was found in the apartment, located in a block of flats opposite the murder scene. On his original passport his name his was given as Rohitha Hewabettige and his age as 46.

His wife, who was with him, had also left the apartment when police went to search and police are looking for both of them. They are believed to be somewhere in Limassol.

According to CID officer Ioannis Soteriades the victim was found in the flat of a cousin on the sixth floor of an apartment building on Michal Michaelides street, off Makarios Avenue.

When the bell rang at 1.20am, he answered the door and was stabbed with a knife during an argument. He died from his wounds while the attacker immediately fled the scene, taking the weapon with him.

Police are still trying to ascertain the motives for the murder. The victim and the suspect had reportedly previously argued over an issue, the details of which are not yet known.

Immediately after the killing the police sealed off the area.

The murdered man was about to return to Sri Lanka to his wife and child as his permit to stay in Cyprus had expired.

 

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.