CYPRUS MAIL - TALES FROM THE COFFEESHOP - Cy Mail 19/7 by Patroclos
THE INHUMANITY the Paphos authorities have shown in the treatment of the British father, whose three-year-old son was killed, after falling out of a fourth-floor hotel window in Paphos last Sunday, was disgusting.
On Monday, less than 24 hours after this tragic accident, the inconsolable, grieving father was taken to court, where the investigating officer requested an eight-day remand order, and the judge, displaying his great wisdom, granted it, without asking any questions.
Cops are not known for their intelligence, but what was the excuse of the Paphos judge for allowing this cruelty to be perpetrated? Was there a flight risk or was there the slightest danger that the father would tamper with evidence or try to influence witnesses?
And was the case a big mystery that the Paphos cops would require eight days to crack? If a remand order had to be issued, why had the judge not limited it to two or three days. That would have been more than enough time even for the incompetent, slow Paphos cops to complete the investigation.
THE TRUTH is everyone knew what happened – the father gave a statement and there was apparently CCTV in the hotel corridor where the accident happened – so there was no need whatsoever to keep the man, who had just suffered the most devastating tragedy of his life, in a stinking cell for eight days.
Had the Paphos cop command and courts, which have a reputation of turning a blind eye to offences committed by Paphites, picked on a foreigner, who had just suffered the loss of his child, to show that there is strict law enforcement in their village-town? What they showed was a frightening callousness for the pain and suffering of a fellow human being.
My congratulations to Phil’s angry columnist Giorgos Kallinikou who, on Saturday, directed the full force of his anger at this inhuman behaviour, ending his article thus: “Simply, shame.”
WHEN the Paphos police were contacted by the Mail, after the court appearance and asked about the unjustified length of the remand, they said that the man could be released earlier. On Friday morning an officer told the paper the investigation had been completed, and the findings were submitted for legal examination.
He said he expected the man would be released, subject to strict restrictions, while the legal process continued. The AG would have to decide whether to prosecute after examining the police report. But was he released on Friday?
No, and the pathetic excuse given by the cops was that the results of the ‘toxicology tests’ he had been subjected to (the cops wanted to establish if he was drunk or drugged when the accident occurred) were still pending. How his release would affect the toxicology tests, only someone with the intelligence and appalling insensitivity of a Paphos cop can tell us.
I would not be surprised if on Tuesday the judge renews the remand order because the toxicology tests were still not ready.
