Four of six people accused of stealing cash and gold worth 327,000 euros from a home in Sfalangiotissa, Limassol, are due to be sent for trial before Limassol Criminal Court on Thursday. The first hearing has been set for 16 December.
The prosecution will ask the court to remand the four in custody until the trial begins. Two of the six are expected to become prosecution witnesses, Phileleftheros understands, while three other people are still wanted.
The robbery
The robbers entered the house in the early hours of 8 October and stayed inside for 39 minutes, as recorded on CCTV, the court heard. They tied up the husband with duct tape and plastic cable ties, threatened the couple with knives and demanded that the 36-year-old woman open the safe, from which they took the cash and gold. They were then filmed leaving through the balcony door and jumping over the fence.
Evidence gathered in the investigation shows the weapons were knives, not a pistol as first reported.
The woman has identified 110 pieces of jewellery as part of the stolen property. One of the accused, aged 29, had allegedly fitted a door at the couple’s home in the past, the court heard.
The four face charges including conspiracy to commit a felony and a misdemeanour, robbery, burglary by night, being found armed with intent to commit a felony, demanding property with menaces, possessing and carrying a knife, assault causing actual bodily harm, threats, money laundering and receiving stolen property.
Admissions
Two of the accused have admitted their involvement and described in detail to Limassol CID investigators how they operated. According to their accounts, they watched the house for three days, and some of the money was allegedly spent gambling at a casino after the robbery.
Police have also obtained a written statement saying that the third and fifth accused, aged 27 and 29, went to the casino in Limassol with two of the wanted people after the robbery, where they allegedly used money from the haul to gamble.
New information about how the robbery was organised and carried out, and how the stolen property was handled, emerged during questioning, Phileleftheros understands.
CCTV evidence
Analysis of CCTV footage showed a red Mazda repeatedly driving near the house, while footage from a petrol station showed one of the wanted people in its passenger seat.
Minutes before the robbery, the same car was filmed stopping outside a kiosk in Mesa Geitonia, where one of the wanted people allegedly bought the duct tape that, according to the case evidence, was used to tie up the couple.
Police kept the Mazda under discreet surveillance and later stopped it with two people inside, aged 25 and 24.
A follow-up search of a house in Limassol found three other people, as well as clothing and tools that police are examining for any link to the robbery. In a BMW searched with the consent of the 27-year-old accused, police found a utility knife that allegedly resembles one seen in the footage from the house.
