FOUR British tourists facing possible murder charges were attacked by a group of friends and relatives of the 17-year-old victim as they arrived in court for a remand hearing on Sunday.
Christos Michalakis Papiris, 17, a resident of Akaki village in Nicosia, was killed instantly when he was thrown from a moped and hit a lamppost at the resort of Protaras in the early hours of August 18.
Marios Demetriou, 18, the driver of the moped, was injured.
Police allege the moped was repeatedly rammed by a rental car driven by the tourists.
James Goodwill and Luke Atkinson, both 22, Michael Binnington, 21, and Julian Harrington, 39, the alleged driver of the car, were appearing in court for a new remand hearing on Sunday.
As Harrington cane out of the police van, a group of mostly teenage friends of the victim moved in, and a scuffle ensued for around two minutes. Harrington bore signs of bruising and scratches as he entered the court.
Shouting and holding pictures of the dead teenager, the villagers screamed “Murderers”, and Papiris’ mother shouted: “You killed my child” as others tried to punch and kick the suspects.
All four suspects from Essex could face charges of conspiracy to murder. Three are expected to be charged with murder and attempted murder, as there is no evidence that Goodwill was in the car at the time of the incident.
Police accuse the four of deliberately targeting Papiris and Demetriou’s moped hours after a brawl with a group of Greek Cypriots outside a nightclub, in which another Briton was injured and taken to a clinic.
The two Greek Cypriots were allegedly targeted in revenge, although they had not even been at the nightclub, police said.
Chief investigator Costakis Panayiotou told the court on Sunday the four suspects had gone out in the car to look for some Greek Cypriots, spotted the victims, did a U-turn, and repeatedly rammed the back of the moped, pursuing it on to a bicycle lane even after Papiris had been thrown off.
Panayiotou said police needed another eight-day remand to take further statements from witnesses. He also said that although there was no evidence that Goodwill was in the car at the time of the incident, he was involved in the conspiracy to murder.
“From witnesses accounts he had been throwing stones at passing motorcyclists prior to the incident,” he said.
The court also heard, for the first time, Harrington’s account of the event. The 39-year old claimed it was he who had been pursued by people on motorcycles and in his fear he performed a U-turn, ended up in the cycle lane and “barely touched the moped”, according to his defence.
The court issued the further eight-day remand order and the suspects were taken past the relatives out of the court, but Papiris’ father pleaded with them not to launch another attack.
The crowd did, however, punch and kick the police van before it sped away.
