Nicosia men jailed for thefts

TWO MEN were jailed yesterday in separate incidents after pleading guilty charges of breaking and entering and theft.

Both men were sentenced by Judge Angelos David who noted the seriousness of their crime, despite attempts from their defence lawyers to plead mitigation.

The court had first heard how Andreas Phaedonos, 25, had pleaded guilty to breaking into a supermarket in Strovolos on the night of August 3, 2004 and stole cigarette cartons and some cash amounting to a total of £940.

Seeking a suspended sentence, Phaedonos’ defence lawyer had pleaded with the judge to show leniency stating that her client’s bad upbringing, in which he used to be systematically beaten by his father, was the catalyst for his unacceptable behaviour.

The lawyer also told the court that her client had a clean record before his arrest and was also in financial difficulties which also played a role in his decision to burgle the supermarket.

Taking a firm stand, Judge David said that “the court has taken into account the defence’s plea for mitigation but that the seriousness of the crime means that the mitigation can only reduce the duration of the sentence and not cancel the sentence entirely”.

The judge sentenced Fedonos to fifteen months imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the same judge also jailed another man after he broke into a warehouse in the Nicosia village of Lythrodontas and stole some car parts.

Welder Savvas Papadopoulos, 49, had pleaded guilty to two charges of breaking into the warehouse between January 16 and January 19, 2005 and stealing a total of seven car engine parts.

The parts, which were worth a total of £800, were later sold for just £30.

Papadopoulos, who has a history of previous convictions, was jailed for 12 months by the judge who informed him “that he appears not to have learnt his lesson from his previous convictions”.
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