Man sentenced for stealing statue now faces new charges

A 55-year-old man sentenced to two years in jail for stealing a bronze statue depicting a girl with a hula hoop is facing additional charges after he broke a window at the Paphos police station.

The detainee, for reasons that remain unknown, caused a disturbance on Friday night and smashed a window of the Paphos police headquarters where he was being held, media reported on Saturday.

He is expected to be charged with additional offences on Monday.

Earlier this week, the man was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence for the theft of a 70kg bronze statue worth €10,000 from a public place in the district. For the same case a 37-year-old man was jailed for 14 months.

The ‘girl with the hula hoop’, by artist Iota Ioannidou had been installed at the Hani tou Ibrahim since last autumn. It was the artist’s fourth sculpture to be installed in the town.