Thirteen arrests in Trikomo murder case

Turkish Cypriot police have arrested a total of 13 people after British Turkish Cypriot Huseyin Mavideniz was beaten to death outside an entertainment venue in Trikomo on Thursday.

Two of the men appeared in court in Trikomo on Friday morning, both accused of Mavideniz’s murder. They have both been remanded in custody for three days.

In court, deputy inspector Gurkan Kemaneci said Mavideniz had been ejected from the venue, named as the Breeze on Long Beach, after causing “unrest” inside.

He said Mavideniz was knocked down by the first punch thrown by the first suspect, who is aged 26.

The first suspect, he said, was “deliberately and unlawfully” hitting Mavideniz’s face with his fist. He added that the second suspect, aged 23, struck Mavideniz’s head with the lower part of his foot.

Kemaneci added that the medical teams who arrived on the scene found no signs of life when they reached Mavideniz, and that he was pronounced dead at the Accident and Emergency department of the Famagusta state hospital.

He said CCTV footage from the venue showed the two men to have killed Mavideniz by “severely battering” him, and that the footage has been taken as evidence.

In addition, he said the clothes and shoes both were wearing while the murder was committed were found during searches of their houses, and that they have also been taken as evidence.

As well as the two accused of murder, police arrested a further 11 people for their various roles in the altercation which led to Mavideniz’s death. The youngest of those arrested is aged 18, while the oldest is 43.

At the hospital, an autopsy was performed on Mavideniz’s body, which determined he died of a “lethal cerebral haemmorhage”.