Pafos Live 26 December 2024
Police are investigating a case of robbery and theft of €100,000, committed on 24 December in an area of Limassol. A 31-year-old man was arrested on a court warrant and taken into custody to facilitate interrogations.
According to a 32-year-old man's complaint, the robbery happened during a cryptocurrency market meeting. One of the two assailants hit him on the head and grabbed a bag with the amount of money, while the second perpetrator was arrested by the police. The authorities are working to identify and arrest the second offender.
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Filenews
An unprecedented case involving the episodic chase of a motorcyclist, who even took legal action against the police officers who pursued him in the performance of their duties, was brought before the Court of Appeal.
This is a motorcycle driver, who while on the Limassol – Nicosia motorway refused to comply with police instructions in order to stop, developing high speed.
Pursued by the members of the Force, he entered the center of Nicosia, however, his course was stopped by a car driven by a citizen on Limassol Avenue, at a point near the traffic lights of CyBC. The vehicle stopped the motorcyclist's course, resulting in injuries and damage to his motorcycle.
The driver of the motorcycle turned against the driver of the car (now deceased), two members of the Police, but also of the Republic of Cyprus, claiming compensation. The court of first instance rejected his request, but then the cyclist appealed to the Appellate Court, attempting to overturn the aforementioned decision.
It raised three grounds of appeal, but the Court of Appeal rejected them in a ruling last Friday, upholding the first-instance judgment.
With regard to the disputed events, which took place are attributed to the decision of the Court of Appeal, which makes extensive reference to what was decided at first instance: "According to the findings of the Court, at about 23.30 on the day of the accident (27/7/2007), Respondents 2 and 3, along with another colleague, were on duty to check motorcyclists in Larnaka. On their way back to the Headquarters from the Larnaka-Nicosia motorway, at the junction of Kotsiatis, they noticed in front of them two motorcyclists, one of whom was later found to be the Appellant, driving at a speed of around 130-140 km/h, very dangerous and without registration plates. One was driving on the rear wheel and the other was overtaking sometimes from the left and sometimes from the right lane and in some cases from the safety lane. They immediately turned on the beacons and developed speed, approached the drivers and, sounding the sirens, signalled them to stop. The motorcyclists, instead of complying, developed speed to escape. They followed them at a speed of about 180-200 km/h to try to stop them, to check and learn the details of the drivers and motorcycles and to report them. Motorcyclists were speeding at more speed. Then, on two occasions the Appellant stopped and, instead of remaining in his position, one time he hit one constable with his hand and developed speed and the second time he kicked the constable motorcycle with his right foot and entered the opposite direction of the Kalamata roundabout. The Appellant passed the lights Good evening and Respondent 2 continued the chase until the lights of CyBC, when he was warned to stop it. The Appellant passed the lights of CyBC with the red light on and at excessive speed and collided with the vehicle of Respondent 1, which was exiting Hypatias Street."
The three reasons raised by the appellant were that (1) the citizen who stopped his course entered by a passage without due attention, (2) the police officers contributed greatly to causing the accident and (3) that the speed of his motorcycle was not what the speedometer indicated (152 km/h). The Court of Appeal, however, assessing the issues raised, concluded that the Court of First Instance "analyzed in great detail the testimony produced and the duty of care that each party had and reached the correct conclusions".
