Man accused of gangland murder to stand trial

A MAN accused of gunning down a rival in a suspected Limassol gangland shooting will face a Criminal Court on July 3.

Marios Paphitis, 42, is under investigation for the premeditated murder of Savvas Nikiforou, a.k.a. Nikoulis, and the attempted murder of his wife Georgia Hadjicharalambous.

He is also facing several counts for illegal possession of firearms.

Yesterday, the Limassol District Court ordered the Paphos man to stand trial on July 3.
He is to remain in remand throughout the duration of his trial.

The attack took place on March 19, just 100m shy of the local police station in Nikoulis’ home town of Polemidia.

Nikiforou’s wife, Georgia Papacharalambous, who was also present, was shot but survived with minor injuries and is recovering in hospital.

Police say Nikiforou was shot in the eye by the gunman as they were drinking coffee together.

The victim succumbed to his injuries at Limassol General Hospital later in the day.
Police believe that at some point during the conversation, the gunman picked up two pistols from the bag he was carrying.

He then unloaded six bullets from one of the pistols towards Nikoulis, who was struck with two bullets to his head and one in his eye.

Paphitis was wrestled to the ground by the father of the victim, who heard the shots and came rushing into the garage.

He then managed to restrain the suspect until police, who heard the shots from the police station, came rushing to arrest the gunman.

Paphitis claims he shot Nikoulis because the victim was about to shoot him himself. He also claims that the victim got him involved in drugs and threatened his family if he didn’t influence a witness in a trial.

Both the victim and suspect have both been in trouble with police in the past, mostly for drug related offences.

Nikoulis had also come under suspicion for the attempted murder of Skevos Prodromou last year, but was acquitted by the Criminal Court.

He was also called in for questioning regarding last week’s killing of Bulgarian national Athanasios Tsavellas.

Tsavellas was blown up in his car in Limassol.

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