THE FATHER of a six-month old baby has been stabbed to death in a Nicosia park following an alleged squabble over his assailant’s manliness.
Greek Pontian Demi Pasenides, 30, was found dead with three stab wounds to the neck and chest in the park near the Ochi roundabout at 1.30am on Sunday. A few hours later, police arrested 32-year-old Greek Pontian Hippocrates Damotsides, who was then remanded in custody for eight days in connection with the killing.
According to a police investigator, the suspect, also the father of a young child, confessed to the crime. The police source said the trouble began on Saturday when a group of friends gathered in Kornos park to celebrate the birth of a child. Damotsides was cutting meat for the barbecue when a friend of the victim apparently taunted him, accusing him of doing a “woman’s job”. The two rowed and almost came to blows until Pasenides intervened. The mood turned sour and the picnic came to an early end.
Later that night, both the victim and suspect went out for drinks in separate groups near the Ochi roundabout. At some point, Damotsides met with Pasenides and confronted him over the earlier insults to his manliness. The two fought and the victim ripped the suspect’s shirt.
According to police, Damotsides then went to his car to change his shirt. He picked up a knife used earlier to cut the meat and went to meet Pasenides again. The victim suffered a slash to the throat and two stab wounds in the chest. The suspect reportedly drove off telling the victim’s friends they could find him in the park.
Nicosia CID spent the next five hours questioning relatives and friends who were initially reluctant to discuss the affair. Eventually the finger pointed towards Damotsides’ alleged involvement. The suspect was located and brought to the scene of the crime, where friends and family of the victim had to be prevented from attacking Damotsides.
The victim’s parents and brother, also residents of Cyprus, were in Greece for the elections when the killing took place. The father was informed immediately and took the family from Thessaloniki to Athens and from there to Larnaca, landing Sunday morning at 11am. Once in Cyprus, he broke the news to Pasenides’ mother.
A friend of the family yesterday spoke of the victim as a “good soul”.
“He would get into the odd brawl, but he was a very good soul. He always got involved to defend people,” she said.
“At the same picnic on Saturday, one man was moaning because his uncle had died and he had no way of getting to the funeral in Paphos, so [the victim] said to his friends: ‘You call yourselves men? No one here will take him?’ He then took him to Paphos himself so he could attend his uncle’s funeral. He was a good soul,” she added.
Meanwhile, it is not custom among Greek Pontians to bury someone if there is a baby in the family that has not been baptised. The family rushed yesterday to baptise the victim’s child before today’s funeral.
“There is no consoling [Pasenides’] mother. They had to take her to hospital Sunday night to sedate her so she could get some sleep,” the friend said.
The family received the body last night. The funeral will be held today midday at a Nicosia church.
Pasenides, who worked at a popular clothes shop in Nicosia, leaves behind a wife and six-month old baby.
