A 72-YEAR-OLD retired taxi driver from Famagusta, Philipos Christodoulou and his 42-year-old domestic worker from Sri Lanka were found dead from gunshot wounds on Wednesday at Christodoulou’s Larnaca flat.
The bodies were found in the flat on the coast road near Mackenzie beach at around 2.50pm, in what police suspect was a murder-suicide.
According to police residents in the apartment building said they smelled burning food – which was later found to be pasta – and had notified the fire department.
Members of the fire brigade climbed up to the second floor flat and entered the apartment through an open balcony door.
They found Christodoulou dead in the kitchen with a wound to the head and a double-barreled shotgun besides him, from which two rounds had been fired.
The 42-year-old domestic worker was found in the bedroom with a wound to the chest.
The death of the domestic worker was a criminal act but foul play has been ruled out in the shooting of the pensioner, according to police.
Neighbours reported that the Sri Lankan woman was not permanently employed by Christodoulou. She had gone to work at his home two weeks ago and then left.
Last weekend, she had returned, bringing with her bags of clothes and personal items.
According to police, it was possible she had been planning to leave again on Wednesday causing Christodoulou to react.
State pathologists Nicholas Charalambous and Sophoclis Sophocleous arrived at the flat at 4pm for an on-scene examination.
The bodies were taken to Larnaca general hospital for post mortems.
Send to Kindle