A TAXI driver’s son and another key witness gave testimony in the ongoing trial of four people accused in the murder of media boss Andis Hadjicostis.
The first witness was unemployed Marios Christodoulou from Makedonitissa in Nicosia and the second Sotiris Tsagarides, the son of the owner of Finlandia Taxi Office Ltd.
Christodoulou testified in court that a few days before Christmas, on Grivas Dighenis Avenue in Nicosia, he had seen suspect Andreas Georgio, 33, and Theofanis Hadjigeorgiou on motorbikes travelling in the opposite direction.
Hadjigeorgiou, who has turned state’s evidence to finger the other suspects, had confessed to meeting second suspect Elena Skordelli, 42 and her brother Tasos Krasopoulis, 37, a third suspect in the murder, to allegedly plan the shooting Hadjicostis.
Hadjicostis, 42 was gunned down outside his Engomi home on January 11 last year.
The court heard that the bike which Georgiou was driving has been already submitted as evidence in the trial, as the bike that police believe was used as the getaway vehicle on the night of the murder.
The bike was then presented in court. Christodoulou said: “It looks like the bike but I am not sure if that is the bike Georgiou was on, however I am sure about the one Hadjigeorgiou was riding as it is the same as mine.”
Under cross examination from the defence, Christodoulou said that he did not know Hadjigeorgiou personally but recognised him from TV reports. “I remember it was him as on the day I saw him we were not wearing helmets and he was staring into my eyes” he said.
Christodoulou was then questioned by the defence about his relationship with Georgiou. He said: “We are not friendly but we are not enemies.”
The second prosecution witness Sotiris Tsagarides, declared in court that due to security reasons he had installed four CCTV cameras at the Finlandia taxi head offices. The cameras covered multiple directions including the parking lot and part of Grivas Dighenis Avenuet.
Tsagarides said: “The police came and asked for the tape. I gave it to them but due to a technical problem they could not take the images. At a later date they took them using a memory stick.”
The prosecution then asked to be allowed to screen and submit the footage as evidence, a request which brought the objections of the lawyer of the fourth suspect Gregoris Xenofontos, 29, who police believe was the shooter. Xenofontos was extradited to Cyprus from Moldavia in the second half of last year.
Xenofontos’ layer claimed that the video infringed his client’s constitutional rights as the taxi office cameras had been placed illegally. The courts will make a decision on the matter on January 19 when they reconvene.
