Court rules on Strovolos double murder notebook

The court sided with the prosecution on Thursday, telling Tzionis’ lawyer that police had every right to obtain notes during a search of his grandfather’s vehicle without a new search warrant.

Defence attorney Andreas Anastasiou had been questioning the legality of hand written notes, which police investigators obtained from the vehicle owned by the main suspect’s grandfather.

Loizos Tzionis, the main suspect, could not have authorized police to search the vehicle according to Anastasiou, who said the car did not belong to his client and it was impounded by cops after the initial search on April 26.

But prosecutor Polina Efthyvoulou told the court that no warrant was needed for the car search on May 4, citing the initial search had been conducted lawfully and the vehicle was in the possession of the police.

“The position of the court is that the car is searched every time there is probable cause. It would have been unreasonable to seek a search warrant each time,” Judge Haris Poyiadjis said.

The judge also said a car search was valid without the consent of the vehicle owner because the car was in the possession of the police.

Poyiadjis had earlier dismissed a request for a trial within a trial, telling the defence attorney that he could present his arguments during the trial. But the judge sided with the prosecutor on Thursday, allowing the hand-written notes to enter the record for the trial.

A prosecution witness presented two notebooks with 94 and 86 pages. Some of the notes were allegedly written by Tzionis and fellow defendant Sara Siams, while handwriting on other pages did not seem to be attributed to either of the two suspects according to testimony heard previously in court.

The notes were discovered following a written deposition by Tzionis, according to the crime investigators in the case.

The case involves four suspects facing seven charges in connection with the murder of a married couple in Strovolos, 60-year-old Yiorgos Hadjigeorgiou and his 59-year-old wife Dina Sergiou, who were savagely stabbed to death on April 18.

The four defendants include 33-year-old main suspect Loizos Tzionis, his 21-year-old girlfriend Sara Sians, Tzionis’ 23-year-old half brother Lefteris Solomou, and another 22-year-old male, Marios Hadjixenofondos. All four have denied the charges.

The court also heard that Eleni Hadjigeorgiou, the sister of one of the victims, would not take the stand, with the prosecutor saying the defence had agreed to accept a written statement from her.

The next hearing was scheduled for January 23. The two other judges on the bench include Yiota Kyriakidou and Fani Kapetaniou.