THE LAWYER of a man recently acquitted of killing his son will today call on the government and the police to take action against the investigators in the case.
Nurse Christodoulos Charalambous, 50, was found not guilty by a Nicosia Criminal Court on February 8 after being charged with the manslaughter of his 21-year-old son Yiannos.
Yiannos was killed by a single, fatal blow to the head with a hoe after a heated argument with Christodoulos which turned violent outside their house on July 21 last year.
The court had acquitted the father after it deemed he had acted in self defence against his son – who the court had heard was a “violent, troublesome and explosive individual.”
Charalambous’ lawyer Efthymios Flourentzou has sent letters to Justice Minister Sophocles Sophocleous, Police Chief Charalambos Koulentis and Ombudswoman Eliana Nicolaou outlining what he claims was the mistreatment and badgering of the bereaved father after his arrest and during questioning.
According to legal sources, Flourentzou will be demanding a disciplinary investigation into the two investigators from the Police Chief while he has also requested from the ombudswoman to look into his client’s case.
A letter has also been sent to the Justice Minister who is the leading authority for legal and police matters on the island.
On November 21 last year, the court heard how Yiannos’ sister Eleni Grigoriou said police investigators Costakis Constantinides and Carolina Nicolaou had tried to mislead her into persuading her father to sign a confession admitting to the premeditated murder of Yiannos.
She then spoke of the Constantinides’ opinion of lawyers, which the investigator allegedly described as “useless”.
“‘I have studied law so I know what I’m talking about,’ he told us. He said he was surprised our lawyers had not been persuading our father to confess and give a statement. He also kept telling us that lawyers were just there to take your money.”
The defendant’s daughter also spoke of the other investigator, who had reportedly told her to persuade her father into giving a statement because the police “only want the best for him”.
Flourentzou had also told the court that police investigators had told Christodoulos to sign a confession of premeditated murder or else he would not be able to attend his son’s funeral.
Constantinides, who had taken the stand in the trial, categorically denied any wrongdoing.
In the court’s final decision, however, Judge Yiasemis Yiasemi spoke of the court’s “disappointment” with the police’s handling of the case.
“We are obliged to express our disappointment with the overall position and attitude of the police who should have shown more responsibility in the case and acted with fairness, objectiveness and their investigations should have been more complete.
“Instead, it appears that the police acted under other motives,” said the judge in the court’s decision.
