Attempted murder victim departs island without giving statement (Updated)

Police on Wednesday are continuing investigations into the shooting in Aglandjia, while the 49-year-old victim of what is seen as an attempted murder, travelled abroad without giving a police statement.

According to police spokesman Christos Andreou, it is not known whether the victim’s trip had been planned ahead of the incident on Monday, during which shots were fired at his car while he was driving on Larnaca avenue. It is also unknown to police whether the victim had received threats.

“We were hoping that with his testimony, he would shed some light on the direction of the investigation,” Andreou said, expressing his disappointment at the man not giving a statement.

“We are particularly troubled that the [victim] would not provide a statement with further details,” he said, adding that it would be difficult to bring a case to court without a complainant.

He said that the police are continuing to investigate the matter, and that they are “focusing their investigations” on CCTV footage in the area as well as forensic examinations of evidence gathered at the scene of the crime.

“We are not stopping the investigation. We may find the testimony we need, as well as some results from the evidence we have gathered. We hope that from these results, we will have something in our hands,” he said.

Police sources earlier had said officers were counting on his statements to guide the direction of investigations, however, the 49-year-old, who was expected to speak to police and give a statement to Nicosia CID on Tuesday, refused do so.

The 49-year-old target is reported as an individual with previous involvement with the authorities, known to police for various serious cases, some drug-related. Sources suspect the incident was about settling accounts.

The incident comes in the wake of mounting fears about crime and the police’s capacity to combat organised underworld elements and maintain public safety.

Police are meanwhile also evaluating CCTV footage from the location where, shortly after 5pm, an unknown person opened fire on the 49-year-old’s vehicle, while his two children were in the car.

The 49-year-old had stopped outside a kiosk and his 17-year-old son got out of the vehicle.

The perpetrator fired two shots at the car, once the boy returned, damaging the windshield and the passenger window, but did not hit the target, his son, or his 15-year-old daughter who sat in the back seat.