Two held over taxi driver’s murder

TWO MEN from Limassol are being held in police custody in Paphos in connection with the murder of a 65-year-old taxi driver last week.

The victim, Michalis Zacharia, bled to death as a result of a stab wound to the throat.

He was found dead on a construction site in Marathounda in the Paphos district. Paphos CID called people in for questioning throughout last week but no arrests were made until yesterday.

The autopsy conducted by state pathologist Sophocles Sophocleous concluded the victim suffered 20 injuries to the back and throat, inflicted by a sharp object and a stone.

Police suspect the motive behind the crime might have been robbery given that the victim was known to carry a large amount of cash on him.

His car was found abandoned and slightly dented on Ypsilantis Street in Paphos. Zacharia was found dead by a construction worker in a building site on the old Episkopi to Marathounda road. Zacharia had been called to pick up a customer from Episkopi but never returned.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.