MEDIA BOSS Andis Hadjicostis’ killers had originally planned to shoot him ‘on the move’ at the Kykkos traffic lights in Nicosia but changed plans after one of them was injured, said the prosecution’s key witness in the ongoing murder trial yesterday.
Fanos Hadjigeorgiou yesterday testified at the Nicosia criminal court for the first time in the trial, following Hadjicostis’ murder outside his home on January 11, 2010.
Hadjigeorgiou allegedly drove the getaway motorcycle on the night of the murder. He has been placed in a witness protection programme and has had all charges against him dropped in exchange for testifying against the other four defendants.
Reading out the statement he gave to police on January 21, 2010, Hadjigeorgiou said: “For days now, my conscience has been torturing me and I want to tell the truth about the Andis Hadjicostis case.”
He proceeded to tell the court that in early December 2009, his friend Andreas Gregoriou, a defendant, proposed that they “shoot a rich guy and we’ll never have to work again”.
Gregoriou allegedly suggested himself as the shooter and Hadjigeorgiou to ride the getaway motorcycle.
After agreeing, Hadjigeorgiou went to Pera village, accompanied by Andreas Kasapis, to meet the masterminds behind the job. He went to the home of second defendant Tasos Krasopoulis, who also owned the Tamasiana restaurant below.
“Tasos told us he wanted us to shoot Sigma’s Andis Hadjicostis, because he and his sister gave four million to buy shares and they kicked Elena (Skordelli) from Sigma, where she was a journalist,” said Hadjigeorgiou.
He added that Krasopoulis’ wife and father-in-law were also at home, though they did not take part in the meeting. “Except at one point, Tasos’ wife brought us cheese pies and stuffed vine leaves to eat.”
Downstairs at the restaurant he had another meeting, this time including third defendant Skordelli. “Elena said: ‘I want this man to die’,” he told the court.
The siblings allegedly offered €50,000 to each hit man, plus a job for life at Sigma with a monthly salary of €2,000-€3,000.
Hadjigeorgiou and Gregoriou then started following Hadjicostis from Sigma to his home between December 19 and 23, he said. One night they thought they saw the victim standing at the entrance to Sigma but then backed away, unsure of his identity.
Gregoriou later secured a photo of Hadjicostis from Krasopoulis “so we could be certain of the man’s face”.
On December 25, 2009, a bomb went off in Gregoriou’s car, injuring him and his brother Harris.
With Gregoriou injured, Hadjigeorgiou had to find a third man for the job, and he found Gregoris Xenofontos (the alleged shooter and fourth defendant), he said.
According to Hadjigeorgiou, he proposed Xenofontos as the shooter because “I felt that I couldn’t kill a man”.
Xenofontos allegedly agreed to take on the job at a meeting at a private Nicosia hospital were Gregoriou was being treated.
According to the key witness, Xenofontos, Petris Kentrikkis and two other people were paid to take shifts, standing watch over Gregoriou at the hospital, armed with a pistol, which they originally planned to shoot Hadjicostis with.
Hadjigeorgiou said he and Gregoriou planned to shoot Hadjicostis on the move at the Kykkos traffic lights in Nicosia.
Following his injury, Gregoriou decided that Xenofontos was not familiar enough with motorbikes to shoot on the move, and so provided them with a sawed-off shotgun instead.
On the day of the murder, Hadjigeorgiou said he and Xenofontos went to Sigma at around 8pm. Hadjicostis’ car was still there. They went to the victim’s house and waited. The murder had been planned out in detail, he said.
“After 20 minutes, after hearing the first shot I got the motorbike on the road, and after one or two seconds I heard the second shot. A few seconds later, Glioris (Xenofontos) got on the motorbike and we went towards Finlandia taxi,” he said.
