Filenews 1 February 2023 - by Dora Christodoulou
Two more arrest warrants for an equal number of persons suspected of involvement in the destruction and theft of the bronze statue in Paphos last Friday were issued today on the basis of new evidence that emerged during the continuation of the investigation of the case.
At the same time, the 33-year-old foreigner who had been arrested yesterday in the same case, was brought before the Paphos District Court today and a two-day detention order was issued against her.
Police investigations continue.
The bronze statue of the "girl with the hula hoop", entered everyone's lives last Friday, when it fell victim to vandals who destroyed it and took it from where it was placed. What was not so well known was the fact that the statue was a donation to the city of Pafos of the Chinese and now naturalized Cypriot citizen and baptized Orthodox Christian, Alexandros Jiang, with him paying the amount required for the creation to the artist Yiota Ioannidou.
The girl with the hula hoop, depicted the little daughter of Alexander, who was also baptized an Orthodox Christian at the same time as her dad, taking the name Alexandra.
Mr. Jiang revealed that he has already signalled to the Paphos authorities his intention to pay again the full cost of preparing an identical statuette.
