Autopsy confirms child drowned to death in Paphos villa pool (Update 2)

An autopsy on Friday confirmed that drowning was the cause of death of a 10-year-old girl who was found dead at the bottom of a pool at a villa in the Coral Bay area, where she lived with her mother.

Meanwhile, her 42-year-old mother has been remanded in custody for six days after being found drunk and unconscious at the scene.

According to Paphos police spokesperson Michalis Nicolaou, the autopsy on the body of the 10-year-old was completed at Nicosia general hospital mortuary by forensic pathologists Orthodoxos Orthodoxou and Angeliki Papetta, who confirmed death due to drowning in water.

Nicolaou said, however that they are still waiting for the results of laboratory tests.

According to earlier reports, the deceased girl’s mother, who was visiting Cyprus from Russia, was initially transported to Paphos general hospital after suffering a panic attack.

Explaining the course of events, a spokesman for the Paphos police told the Cyprus Mail “look, she was drunk. She was taken to hospital and then when she realised what had gone on, what had happened to the girl, then she became panicked and had a panic attack”.

She was arrested on suspicion of causing death due to a thoughtless and reckless act and was taken to court after being released from hospital on Friday morning.

The mother and daughter had been staying in a villa in the Coral Bay area of Paphos since July 15.

The mother had reportedly invited guests to the villa, who arrived to find her unconscious and her daughter at the bottom of the pool.

The emergency services were called and the child was pulled from the pool by the fire brigade, while her mother, still unconscious, was taken to hospital.

Police investigations into the case are ongoing.