Police are searching the Akamas peninsula for the knife used to kill a 51-year-old British man in Peyia on Monday night, after the 20-year-old suspect, the son of the victim’s partner, told them where he had thrown it.
The 20-year-old, who police say has admitted wounding the man, said in a voluntary statement that he threw the knife away in the Kakoskali area of Akamas after the incident. He agreed to lead officers to the peninsula and show investigators the spot where he says he threw it. He and his 42-year-old mother were remanded in custody for eight days by Paphos District Court.
Police are still searching for the son’s young girlfriend, who is from Scotland, the case investigator told the court. Police told the court she appeared to have been driving the car when the mother and son put the injured man in it to take him to hospital.
They are examining whether she panicked when she realised how seriously he was hurt and abandoned the car where it was later found, and whether she or the mother called the ambulance service.
In their statements, the mother and son said the 51-year-old often had outbursts, which they blamed on cocaine use, and frequently caused jealous scenes over his partner. They said that on Monday afternoon he brandished a knife and that the son stepped in and wounded him in the abdomen in the scuffle that followed.
Police told the court, however, that the pair had so far been careful not to implicate anyone else in the events of Monday night.
Officers who went to the house where the three lived found bloodstains, and the floors had clearly just been mopped.
Five statements have been taken so far, and another 50 are expected from the victim’s family, work and social circles. Police said that because the investigation was at an early stage and another person was being sought, there was a risk of evidence being tampered with.
