President expected to pardon grandfather who shot cable thief (updated)

President Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday is set to grant a pardon to the 82-year-old grandfather who was jailed the previous day for shooting an attempted thief.

The man had been sentenced to two and a half years behind bars on Wednesday after having been convicted of intending to cause serious bodily harm and carrying and using a firearm when he shot a man who was attempting to steal electricity cables from his house in the back.

Speaking on television to Alpha, the man’s lawyer Maria Neophytou said that the man’s health is “not in such a good condition” and that he was “in a state of shock” on Wednesday evening.

She said he asked her, “I am nearly 83 years old. Am I going to die in jail?”

She added that he had filed reports to police on four separate occasions regarding thefts and that he lived “in genuine fear” of thieves and trespassers on his property.

“He was scared. We are talking about an elderly gentleman with health problems who lives alone in an isolated area,” she said.

Asked about the man he shot, Neophytou said “he is fine. He had no lasting health problems. This was mentioned in court.”

She added that her client “did not intend to kill him. He just wanted to scare him.”

Despite all of this, she said, “the court said he was not under threat under those circumstances.”

“How could they come to that conclusion? A man in his eighties with mobility issues who lives alone in an isolated area being robbed is not under threat? That he used unreasonable force in those circumstances?” she asked.

She added, “he acted in the moment and without prior planning,” and dismissed the idea that, as the court had concluded on Wednesday, releasing him could “send the wrong message to would-be offenders”.

“This was a unique set of circumstances. I do not see what other chain of events could lead to something like this happening.”

The man’s relatives burst into tears when the sentence was read out, as they had hoped that he may have received a suspended sentence for his crime. However, the court concluded that a suspended sentence “would not be justified.”

The court said it had taken into account various mitigating factors but concluded that a more lenient sentence than the two and a half years handed down would “send the wrong message to would-be offenders” and “would not serve the needs of the law”.

However, with Christodoulides now ordering a pardon, he will be freed once the relevant legal procedures have been carried out.

The shooting had taken place in the Limassol village of Alassa last June. The 82-year-old exited his house during a power outage to check the main supply panel and took a hunting rifle and a cartridge with him for protection.

He then realised that someone else was on his property and winding an electric wire. He then approached the perpetrator and shouted at him, before firing a shot, which hit him in the back.