A 57-YEAR-OLD man was arrested yesterday after he knifed a 19-year-old woman in the face, minutes after the pair crashed into a truck just off the Nicosia-Limassol highway, police said.
The attempted murder occurred at around 9am when the Syrian suspect was driving on the highway and turned off for Latsia.
Police said the young woman, who was sitting in the passenger seat, is thought to have felt threatened for some reason and reached for her phone to make a call. Unconfirmed reports said the suspect had asked her what her last wish was.
When the teen, who is from the Dominican Republic, reached for her mobile, a second man sitting in the backseat grabbed it from her, prompting the 19-year-old to seize the steering wheel, swerving the car into an oncoming truck.
The car driver then allegedly grabbed a knife and frenziedly started stabbing the young woman in the face and on various parts of her body.
In the meantime, the second man sitting in the backseat got out of the car and ran off into an unknown direction. Police were last night still trying to determine his identity.
How the teen had managed to survive the attack was also unclear, police officers said.
Both the driver and 19-year-old were taken to Nicosia general hospital for treatment. The driver was arrested and will appear in court for his remand hearing today.
The young woman was kept in for treatment suffering a severe 7cm-long laceration to her face, injuries to her nose, tongue and right palm.
The motive behind the attack was not yesterday clear but it is thought investigators are looking into the possibility that the two men had planned to murder and dispose of the Dominican Republic woman’s body. Police are said to have found a brand new pickaxe and shovel in the boot of the care.
According to unconfirmed media reports, the 57-year-old was only recently released from prison two years ago after serving six years of a 12-year sentence for the murder of a woman in Pallouriotissa, Nicosia in 2001.
Nicosia CID is investigating.
According to eyewitnesses, the murder investigation held up traffic on the busy stretch of road for several hours. Police said the congestion was worsened by the fact that at that time a second car accident had also taken place, bringing traffic to a virtual standstill.
