Newsroom
A man who caused the death of a 25-year-old cyclist in Aglantzia in 2022 will now serve prison time after Cyprus’ Court of Appeal overturned his suspended sentence and ordered him jailed for 10 months.
The unanimous ruling, issued Sept. 30, came after the Attorney General’s office challenged a Nicosia District Court decision that had initially handed the defendant a three-year suspended sentence.
The man had been convicted of reckless or dangerous behavior leading to death, as well as abandoning the scene of the crash without helping the victim.
Appeals judges said the lower court had made a “serious error” by failing to give proper weight to the gravity of the offenses, especially the fact that the driver left the young cyclist behind. They stressed that case law makes clear: leaving the scene of an accident must carry a severe penalty, and suspending prison time “is not a normal option.”
“The seriousness of abandoning the victim, along with the need to protect society and deter similar offenses, outweighs the personal circumstances of the accused,” the court said.
The Attorney General’s office had also argued that the 10-month sentence itself was too light. But the appeals judges rejected that part of the appeal, saying the penalty was adequate.
The case was argued for the state by public prosecutor Sotiroulla Michael.
The ruling comes after growing public concern in Cyprus about road safety, cycling infrastructure, and the need for stricter penalties for drivers who flee crash scenes.
