Newsroom
The cross examination of a prosecution witness in the Strovolos double murder has revealed many contested issues, with the main suspect’s defence lawyer questioning the investigator’s methods and veracity of his statements.
(Click here for an update to the story)
A trial within a trial has been taking place this week while a crime scene photographer is set to testify on Thursday.
On Tuesday, prosecution witness sergeant Savvas Siamoutis was cross examined for a second day by defence attorney Andreas Anastasiou, who told the police officer he was not forthcoming with the facts.
Anastasiou asked the court to view one of the two autopsy reports in the case as well as the results of the medical exam on the 15-year-old son of the murdered couple
Anastasiou questioned why Siamoutis did not record a number of happenings and statements in his official entry log, such as the fact that he recorded a video of main suspect Loizos Tzionis performing a split and standing on one hand.
The witness said he had recorded the video after being friendly with Tzionis, with the suspect claiming ease in gaining entry into an abandoned house and the cop challenging the suspect to prove his physical agility.
Siamoutis said he recorded the video with Tzionis’ permission and that nobody else was destined to view the content.
But Anastasiou pressed hard on that issue, asking the witness when exactly he recorded the video, with Siamoutis saying May 4.
“I submit to you that the video was recorded on April 27,” Anastasiou told the witness, who did not concur and said if his own phone were to be examined it would not support the defence's theory.
The defence attorney also told the witness that the video was not recorded with his client’s permission.
“There is something that points to his consent,” the witness replied.
Anastasiou also asked the court to view one of the two autopsy reports in the case, while also requesting to view the medical exam of the 15-year-old son of the murdered couple.
The teen was reportedly the only family member in the home during the double murder on April 18, when his parents, 60-year-old Yiorgos Hadjigeorgiou and his 59-year-old wife Dina Sergiou, were savagely stabbed to death.
On April 27, the boy picked Tzionis out of a police lineup with police describing the case as a burglary gone very wrong with the brutal killing of two people.
Additional points were contested during the cross examination of the witness, including the timing and circumstances of cops discovering a knife and clothes at the home of Tzioni’s father. It was previously stated that the suspect told Siamoutis he had not put the items there and wondered maybe it might have been his brother.
Anastasiou declared that investigators not only did they not read his clients his rights during crucial parts of the interrogation but alleged that they knew he was facing health issues due to a drug problem and that he was not allowed to rest.
At one point during the cross examination, the defence attorney of another suspect, Sara Siams - who was Tzionis’ girlfriend – asked to address the court following a reference to a pair of glasses, purportedly belonging to the male victim, which was found with other items.
The presiding judge did not allow the interjection, citing the ‘trial with a trial’ segment of the hearing where the defence was questioning whether Tzionis had been treated fairly by cops.
