A coffee shop worker told the Limassol Criminal Court on Friday that the man accused of murdering Yiannis Argyrou was sweating heavily and very agitated, pacing in and out, when he arrived at the premises.
Argyrou, 45, was stabbed 19 times in the garage of the apartment block where he lived, in the early hours of May 4, 2025. A 52-year-old man denies premeditated murder.
The witness, who works at a café owned by a relative of the accused, said he asked the man what was wrong. The accused replied that he would not sell his honour and dignity to anyone, and told the witness to take care of his daughter.
He kept talking about honour, the witness said. At one point, he said: “Whether outside or inside, it’s prison for me. It’s the same.”
The witness said he later heard people in the café saying someone had been stabbed outside an apartment block. From what the accused had said, he thought the accused might be connected to it.
The head of the Cyprus Forensic Service, Dr Angeliki Papetta, told the court the accused had refused to consent to a forensic examination. Asked by the prosecution whether she had examined him, she said she had not. After the post-mortem, police asked her to examine two people, one of them a woman, but the accused would not consent.
“Come quickly”
The court also admitted as evidence the statement of the chairman of the block’s management committee. He said that at around 9.15am on May 4, 2025, he heard loud shouting and a woman’s screams, and someone ringing his doorbell persistently. When he opened the door, Argyrou’s mother told him: “Come quickly, they’ve killed my son.” He described finding the victim, and said he was the one who called Limassol central police station.
Medical evidence
Papetta told the court the victim had 19 wounds from a sharp, pointed instrument, some of which hit vital organs. Two were through-and-through wounds. She said he died of haemorrhagic shock, caused by multiple ruptures of blood vessels and vital organs.
Next witnesses
The prosecution, led by Senior Counsel of the Republic Andreas Aristides, is nearing the end of its case. Two prosecution witnesses remain: the case investigator and the accused’s 47-year-old partner, who was previously a co-defendant.
Phileleftheros has previously reported that, in her statements, the 47-year-old said the accused told her twice that he had killed Argyrou and showed her the knife. She said she found him outside the garage with his clothes covered in blood, after he had asked her to come back and pick him up. She also said he was excessively jealous of her.
