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Evidence points to murder says officer in pensioner case (Update)

couple
Janice and David Hunter

By Nikolaos Prakas and Melissa Hekkers

British pensioner, David Hunter, is facing the charge of premeditated murder of his wife, who was terminally ill, the Paphos criminal court heard on Monday, just over 9 months after he admitted killing her. They had been married for 56 years.

The court heard testimony of the night of the event from three police officers, and a total of 35 pieces of evidence were submitted during the hearing, which had been adjourned three times.

Hunter, 74, a retired miner, who lived in the village of Tremithousa, Paphos with his wife Janice, 75, originally from Ashington in the UK appeared calm during the hearing. He sat behind the bench with his translator as events of the evening in question were recounted.

During the hearing, his lawyers had unsuccessfully tried to reduce the charge to manslaughter/assisted suicide.

Evidence submitted by officer Theodoros Christoforou during his testimony, included a whisky bottle with traces of a blood-like substance, a lighter, cigarettes, a blouse, a fingernail found outside the victim’s mouth, a pair of jeans, a night dress, a mobile phone, memory cards, and photos of the victim’s body.

Christoforou was then cross-examined by the defendant’s lawyer, Ritsa Pekri.

She asked him about the actions that he took in addition to the evidence that was filed in court.  Christoforou said it was all in the diary of events he had kept of the incident.

During her statements, Pekri also raised the issue that there was a delay in the psychological evaluation of her client, noting that it happened after the designated time frame provided by the law. She said that her client’s mental state had be shaken by the incident.

Pekri asked Christoforou, why the charges of manslaughter/assisted suicide were not being examined, with the officer answering that all the evidence pointed to pre-meditated murder.

Officer Theodoros Constantinides, a member of the investigative team for the case, also testified on Monday.

Pekri asked if he knew why her client had been admitted to the ICU after the incident. He said this was because his stomach had been pumped.

The last witness to testify on Monday, officer Savvas Stelikos told the court that following information they received, police went to the 74-year-old’s residence in Tremithousa, where Hunter told officers that he had killed his wife. In photographic material shown to him by the prosecution, Stelikos said he recognised the area and the residence, where the 75-year-old woman was found, who, as he said, was in an armchair and covered with a blanket.

Prosecution lawyer, Andreas Hadjikyrou said that all the evidence material, the forensic report, and the medical report by state medical examiner Nicholas Charalambous had been submitted to the defence.

The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday at 10am.

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