Paphos District Court issued a seven-day detention order today against a 22-year-old suspect, arrested yesterday over serious incidents on Tuesday night targeting food delivery drivers in the Mouttalos area of central Paphos.
A police representative told the court the 22-year-old suspect had been identified through examination of video footage authorities hold from the area of the incidents.
This followed the arrest, on Wednesday night, of a 35-year-old man in the same case. He appeared in court yesterday, where an eight-day detention order was issued against him.
Police say the charges against the two men concern robbery, assault causing actual bodily harm, riot, illegal possession and transport of an offensive weapon, common assault, and malicious damage.
The confrontation began at around 8.30pm on Tuesday, when a 26-year-old delivery driver went to an area of Mouttalos to deliver a food order. According to the evidence under examination, an unknown man, said to have been accompanied by three other people, refused to pay for the order on the driver’s arrival and then attacked him, throwing a stone in his direction.
The 26-year-old alerted colleagues, who rushed to the area. Shortly afterwards, around ten unknown men are said to have gathered at the scene, some of them appearing to be carrying metal objects. What followed was an assault on the delivery drivers: the alleged perpetrators are said to have attacked them and damaged their motorcycles, knocking some of the bikes to the ground.
According to evidence being investigated by police, the situation escalated further from there. Four of the unknown individuals got into a vehicle and headed towards Mouttalos, where they found a 22-year-old delivery driver who had just completed a delivery.
Three of the men got out of the vehicle and attacked the 22-year-old driver. Police say they then took a sum of money and his mobile phone from him before fleeing the scene in an unknown direction.
Five delivery drivers in total were injured in the confrontation. Ambulances took all of them to Paphos Hospital, where the doctor on duty examined them and found they had sustained various injuries. Four of the injured were discharged, while one remained in hospital for further treatment.
