FIVE MEN were each handed hefty prison sentence from a Nicosia Court yesterday after admitting to charges relating to a series of burglaries in which around £260,000 in cash and other items was stolen.
Evangelos Evangelou admitted to two charges of breaking into a shop and burglary, Tassos Anastasiou admitted to two charges of breaking into a house and burglary as did Costas Iacovou Koutouris. All three men, who have all been jailed in the past for similar offences, also have other cases of burglary still being investigated against them.
The other two men, cousins Giorgos Evangelou and Pavlos Evangelou, each admitted to two charges of being in possession of stolen items.
Police are on the lookout for the sixth man, Delia Milko, also believed to be connected to the crimes.
Evangelos Evangelou had admitted to the court that he had broken into a shop in Larnaca in June 2004 and stole a safe which contained cheques, cash and other valuables amounting to around £33,000. Anastasiou, on the other hand, pleaded guilty after being charged with breaking into a house in Nicosia and stealing a safe containing gold items and other jewellery worth around £100,000.
Koutouris was also charged and pleaded guilty to breaking into a house in Nicosia and getting away with a safe containing £116,250 in cash and jewellery.
State prosecutor Rikkos Mappourides had previously told the court that Evangelos Evangelou and Pavlos Evangelou were brothers and that Evangelos had given Pavlos the loot stolen from the shop in Larnaca to stash away and hide.
The defence lawyers pleaded with the three-panel judge to show compassion to their clients claiming that they all had children that they needed to support. Evangelos Evangelou’s defence lawyer Michalis Pelekanos also told the court that his client had gotten involved with the wrong sort of people and that his crimes were driven by his driving need to pay some of money owed to these people.
But that did little to cut any edge with the judges who ruled that the seriousness of the crimes could not be overlooked.
“We will take into consideration the clean record of some of the accused but that will not hide the fact that they participated in some very serious crimes”, said Chief Panel Judge Michalakis Christodoulou.
The court went on to sentence Evangelos Evangelou to six and a half years in prison, Anastasiou to eight years in prison and Koutouris also to eight years in prison. Giorgos Evangelou and Pavlos Evangelou were handed 18 months and 12 months prison sentences respectively for their involvements in the crimes.
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