Woman who fell at Petra tou Romiou was murdered, police confirm

Police on Monday confirmed foul play in the case of a 28-year-old woman found dead in the vicinity of Petra tou Romiou in Paphos on Saturday morning.

Officers believe her 31-year-old partner may have strangled her to death and then threw her body from the viewing point close to Aphrodite’s rock (Petra tou Romiou). He maintains she fell while trying to take a selfie.

The victim has been identified as a Ukrainian national Lesia Bikova who is a resident of Paphos, according to the city’s CID chief Michalis Nicolaou.

The man was remanded for eight days at Paphos criminal court.

A six-hour autopsy on Sunday revealed abrasions consistent with signs of sexual abuse. Police are treating the case like pre-meditated murder, while Bikova also bears external injuries that were not a result of her fall.

State pathologists Angeliki Papetta and Orthodoxos Orthodoxou who caried out the autopsy found her hyoid bone was fractured – indicating strangulation, Nicolaou said.

Her partner, aged 31, was arrested on Sunday. He is a Greek national and permanent resident of Cyprus.

Later on Monday, it was announced that the suspect’s lawyers have requested that a second autopsy by carried out in the presence of a private examiner. The police stated that the legal services are reviewing the request.

He was the one that initially called police to alert them of Bikova’s death, saying she slipped and fell while trying to take a selfie with Aphrodite’s rock in the background.

The body was recovered by helicopter from the bottom of a 100m cliff.

Bikova has been in Cyprus since January 6 with a special residence permit from immigration service. According to the spokesman, there are indications she had visited Cyprus before.