Seven suspects in murder case to stand trial

All seven suspects in the brutal murder case of 61-year-old Dorotheos Demetriades are to be referred to Nicosia criminal court, four of whom will be held in custody until then.

The other three were released on bail, while five of the seven suspects overall are facing charges of manslaughter which carries the maximum of a life sentence.

The remaining two suspects face up to two years in jail for failure to prevent a crime.

The trial date was set for February 16 at 9:30am.

The alleged murder of the 61-year-old took place on the night of January 4, when an argument appears to have ballooned out of control and he subsequently suffered beatings from various suspects.

A post-mortem showed that Demetriades died of internal bleeding caused by injuries to his stomach and other organs.

It is understood that the police are relying heavily on CCTV footage which captured parts of the alleged murder, having received new material last week.

According to the evidence collected so far, which includes a short statement from Demetriades before he died on the night of January 4, the suspects beat him to death.

Earlier that night, the 61-year-old had gone to an apartment building in Latsia to resolve a disagreement between two tenants, one of whom was a friend.

He was apparently dragged from the first floor of the apartment building to the ground floor after an initial altercation on the second floor, according to witness testimony presented in court during the remand hearings on Tuesday.

The court heard that two women tenants, Demetriades’ friend and a 31-year-old suspect, had gotten into an argument over issues caused by the suspect’s family.

Attempting to resolve the issue, Demetriades went to the apartment of the 31-year-old woman, who lives with her four children and 35-year-old partner, also a suspect in the case.

Based on the statement given by 31-year-old, her 7-year-old son answered the door. She was released on bail as she was not deemed at risk of fleeing the country, while being the mother of four children was also taken into consideration.

The woman said that when her son asked who was at the door, Demetriades responded: “It’s Doros, and I am bringing presents.”

At some point the woman came to the door, and Demetriades and the woman began to argue. The woman claimed the 61-year-old slapped her, which incited her 35-year-old boyfriend to begin fighting with Demetriades.

The court also heard that the man then told one of the woman’s children to call the other four suspects as well.

Meanwhile, the 35-year-old, a 26-year-old suspect who was already there, and the 31-year-old beat Demetriades on the second floor, as CCTV footage from the common area of the building showed.

While the victim was on the ground, the 26-year-old then proceeded to drag him to the stairwell, where the argument continued.

Demetriades eventually made it to the first floor of the building, pursued by the 26-year-old. The two argued again, which led the 26-year-old to drag Demetriades down the stairs from the first floor to the ground floor.