34-year-old Papakitsa Eirin was murdered at her home in Paphos’ on Sunday evening in what is being investigated as a possible femicide after her 53-year-old partner admitted stabbing her with a knife.

Police said they were informed about an injured woman and child at around 5:30pm on Sunday.

Arriving at the scene, officers discovered the woman lifeless inside the home, alongside her injured 14-year-old son and 53-year-old partner of the woman.

Both the boy and the man were taken to Paphos general hospital where they received medical treatment. The woman’s son has since been discharged.

The 53-year-old was later transferred to Nicosia general hospital where he is under police guard. In the presence of his lawyer, the Paphos district court remanded him in custody for eight days.

A neighbour reportedly told police she had heard the boy screaming for help and noticed that the voices were coming from the hallway of the house.

After opening the front door, the neighbour said that she saw the boy holding the left side of his neck with his hand, begging her [the witness] to “help, my mother.”

After following the boy, the witness said she found his 34-year-old mother lying on the floor in a pool of blood, trying to move and breathing heavily.

The witness then called the ambulance and said that while she was waiting for them to arrive, the boy told her that the man who had stabbed his mother lived with them too and had gone on to stab himself as well.

At some point, the witness said, the door to the apartment’s bathroom opened and the 53-year-old came out with blood on his hands and feet, and soon after locked himself in the bathroom.

The son reportedly told the police that he had entered the room after hearing the man and his screaming and then saw the 53-year-old stabbing his mother with a knife, before stabbing himself.

Assistant police director Michalis Nikolaou on Sunday evening told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) the boy was thought to have been injured while attempting to prevent him from attacking his mother.

The suspect, Nikolaou said, has no prior police record.

Police investigations at the house wrapped up at around 11pm on Sunday after state coroners Orthodoxos Orthodoxou and Angeliki Papetta conducated a post mortem.

On Monday, they carried out an autopsy, and found that the woman had suffered a punctured lung as a result of being stabbed, and as a result bled to death.

Gender equality commissioner Josie Christodoulou on Monday afternoon referred to the murder as a femicide, highlighting the severity of violence against women and domestic violence in the most terrifying way.

“Femicides are the most extreme form of violence against women and stem from gender stereotypes and long-standing power relations between women and men,” the commissioner said.

She added that it constituted an intentional criminal act, for which the perpetrator bears sole responsibility.

“A zero tolerance policy is required”, she said.

Femicide is used to describe the killing of a woman because of her gender.