A 45-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a burglary at a Limassol shop selling second-hand designer goods, in which bags, watches and jewellery worth 220,000 euros were stolen. His DNA had been found on items including the sledgehammer used to smash the shop’s door.
His trial had been due to start at Limassol Criminal Court, with dozens of exhibits, but after consulting his lawyers he admitted burglary, theft of property worth 220,000 euros and conspiracy. Some of the other charges he faced were suspended, and the court set a new date for the facts of the case to be presented and for sentencing.
The man was called in for questioning a few days after the burglary, after police received information that he may have been involved. He denied any involvement, saying he had never been to the shop or to the rooftop lift stairwell of a nearby block of flats, where the owner’s stolen property was found. He agreed to give fingerprints and DNA samples, which were sent for analysis.
Forensic tests isolated genetic material from three exhibits and matched it to him: a cardboard necklace box, the outside of a green bin and the handle of the sledgehammer. He was arrested three months after the burglary, once DNA linked him to evidence found in the stairwell.
The burglary took place at around 4am on 15 September 2025. As philenews previously reported, the two burglars spent about half an hour going back and forth outside the shop before breaking in. Wearing hoods, they cut the chain on its metal security door and smashed the glass front door with a sledgehammer.
They took designer bags and jewellery from the display cases at the front of the shop, put them in a rubbish bin and fled.
