Woman kills her child, tries to kill herself (Update 2)

A 40-year-old woman stabbed her son, 12, to death and tried to take her own life inside a second-floor flat in Yeri, Nicosia police said on Thursday.

The woman from Kazakhstan is said to be in serious but not life-threatening condition.

The drama unfolded at around lunchtime Thursday after the woman’s Greek Cypriot husband, 52, the boy’s stepfather, was unable to enter the flat because the door was locked. He had knocked before trying to enter but there was no answer.

The man, who is reported to be a traffic policeman, then called the fire service and they managed to enter through a window only to find the 12-year-old lying dead in his bed and the woman in the hall, police said.

The scene was examined by state pathologists Sophocles Sophocleous who found wounds on the child’s throat.

Nicosia CID chief Neophytos Shailos said it appeared to be a family tragedy.

He said police had gone to the scene immediately after being alerted. “We examined the scene, found a 12-year-old child dead in his bed,” he said. Various sharp implements were found at the scene, he added. “These appear to have been used in the crime we are investigating, which is premeditated murder.”

Shailos said the mother had been found injured in the hallway where it appeared she tried to end her own life. She was taken by ambulance to Nicosia General Hospital where she underwent surgery, he said.

“The examination of the scene by pathologists shows that what we have before us is a family tragedy,” he added.

From the indications police had so far, he said, it appeared as if the mother killed the boy and then tried to kill herself.  “From initial indications, it appears that the mother was involved,” he said.

Shailos said the woman was suffering from various health problems but he did not elaborate.