A MAN was arrested yesterday in connection with the brutal overnight murder of a mother of three in the Nicosia suburb of Latsia.
Police say Kyriacos Kakoullis, 37, has confessed to killing Androula Avraam-Goumenou, also 37, after a heated argument.
According to his confession, the suspect punched and stabbed the victim, then smashed her head with a large rock; he then drove her body to a remote area and set it on fire.
Police are still investigating the motive behind the brutal killing of the mother from Potamia village, with reports suggesting the two had a relationship but that the victim had recently discovered something about the suspect.
The suspect is from the village of Pera Chorio.
CID Sergeant Costas Constantinou told the remand hearing yesterday: “At around 9.30pm on Wednesday, police were alerted to the Nea Ledra area of Latsia, where a car was on fire. Close to the car, officers found traces of blood. A closer investigation of the area around the car showed larger traces of blood.”
The officers then ran a check on the car and discovered it belonged to the Chryses Efkeries small ads paper. The paper told police the car was being driven by the victim.
Avraam-Goumenou had been reported missing by relatives on Wednesday afternoon.
“Foul play was immediately suspected,” Constantinou told the court, “and a witness account strongly implemented the suspect to the crime. The suspect was called to Potamia police station and there he immediately made a voluntary statement.”
Kakoullis told police that at around 6pm, he had arranged to meet the victim at the place where her car was found torched. At some point during the conversation, a heated argument erupted.
“The suspect then said he stabbed the victim with a knife and punched her at the same time as well. He then picked up a large rock and struck her over the head, killing her instantly,” said Constantinou.
“He then placed the body into the back of his pick-up truck and drove to a wooded area in Mosfiloti. There he dumped the body in a remote area and set it alight. He then drove back to where they had initially met and torched her car, before going back to his home in Pera Chorio and washing his pick-up truck.”
After his confession, Kakoullis was formally placed under arrest.
“After his rights were read to him, the suspect said ‘I confess’,” Constantinou told the court.
Police have so far taken four statements in the preliminary investigation and are set to take a further 40 from colleagues, family and friends of both the victim and the suspect.
Investigators will also be making DNA tests on the body and the area while efforts continue to find out the exact motive behind the killing.
Judge Yiota Kyriakidou remanded the suspected in custody for eight days.
Fourth of its kind
THE murder of Androula Avraam-Goumenou is the fourth killing of a woman by her partner this year.
l On October 15, the body of 41-year-old Roulla Panteli, was found by a hunter in a remote area of Limassol. The woman, who had been missing for two weeks, had been shot twice in the back of the head. Her 45-year-old boyfriend, Christakis Gavriel, is facing charges of premeditated murder. He denies the charges.
l On October 6, 40-year-old Spyros Neocleous shot his wife Afroulla twice in the head and body with a hunting rifle, before kneeling down and turning the gun on himself. The couple had been experiencing marital problems and were recently separated. Neocleous was following his wife Afroulla in his pick-up truck on the Livadia-Kellia road in the Larnaca district, as she was driving to pick up their 14-year-old daughter from school. He then cut her off, chased as she ran out of the car and shot her.
l On August 1, Christoforos Charalambous, 29, is believed to have stabbed 45-year-old Yiannos Demosthenous 38 times in the back with a kitchen knife. Demosthenous was having an affair with the suspect’s wife, 30-year-old Anna Vasileva from Kyrgyzstan. Police later found the charred skeletal remains of Vasileva inside a metal barrel outside the village of Askas.
Charalambous denies killing Vasileva, telling officers that she “wanted to be cremated”.
Charalambous is currently awaiting trial.
