BOTH THE Greek and Cypriot communities in South Africa were shaken yesterday by the brutal murder of a Cypriot father and son in Johannesburg, which occurred at lunchtime on Monday.
Filaretos Seimanis, 90, and his 50-year-old son, Costas Seimanis, who were originally from Anavargos, Paphos, were shot dead in their home at around 12.30pm on Monday by robbers.
It is suspected that the attack was not random and that Filaretos Seimanis was in fact followed by the robbers to the bank, when he went to withdraw a large amount of cash, for their trip to Cyprus this Friday. However, so far no arrests have been made in connection with the murder.
It emerged yesterday that Filaretos Seimanis, that same Monday, had taken his wife to the hospital to get some medication, as they were due to travel to Cyprus this Friday for a holiday.
“He brought me to the hospital to get some pills that I needed and I told him to go home and come back at 11am as there was no need for him to wait,” Elenitsa Seamanis, the 90-year-old victim’s wife told state television CyBC.
On his return Seimanis must have noticed that the door had been forced open. At the time, his son Costas Seimanis was also in the house.
According to one of the victim’s relatives, Stelios Constantinides, they were told about the murder on Monday afternoon from Seimanis’ wife, who on waiting at the hospital for the return of her husband who never came back began to worry. “I was calling home and on his mobile but there was no answer,” said Elenitsa Seimanis. She then went home at around 2pm after asking a Greek woman to give her a lift since her husband had the car, only to find her husband dead in the living room, lying in a pool of blood, and her son in a nearby room.
“I felt a great strength when I was faced with this tragic sight, so much so that I couldn’t cry,” she added.
Costas Michael, the Mukhtar of Anavargos commented yesterday that only recently had Filaretos Seimanis’ brother, who died of late, repatriated to Cyprus. His sister, who also recently passed away, had been living in Limassol. The Seimanis family had kindly donated a plot of land for the expansion of the cemetery, he said.
