By Constantinos Psillides
Former convict Andreas Onoufriou, 63, will go on trial on June 5 before the Limassol criminal court, charged with attempted murder of a police officer, illegal transportation of firearms, and conspiring to commit a felony.
Onoufriou appeared before the Limassol district court on Thursday. The court ordered that he remain in custody until the trial.
Onoufriou, who is representing himself in court, objected, arguing that there was no one to take care his 80-year-old mother and his four-year-old boy. He said he was fully cooperating with authorities on his bail conditions set for an older case, and that he felt he would not be safe at the Central Prison as since he has an open case against former deputy head Giorgos Tryfonides. Tryfonides is no longer at the prisons, having been reassigned months ago.
The prosecution said that Onoufriou shouldn’t be released, arguing that he could escape to the north, he could approach witnesses or simply not show up for court.
Onoufriou won’t be facing the court alone. Along with him are alleged accomplices Christofos Kyprianou, 60 and Michalis Michail, 60. Both of them are facing charges of conspiring to commit a felony. Kyprianou is the owner of the house Onoufriou was using as a refuge to escape capture in Lagia village in the Larnaca district, while Michail allegedly provided the former convict with a hunting gun.
Onoufriou led the police on a five-day manhunt that ended with his arrest on April 29. Police first attempted to arrest Onoufriou a few days earlier, at his apartment in Limassol. Officers were acting on a tip saying that Onoufriou had guns at his home and that he was linked to a string of armed robberies. Armed with a standard issued military rifle, known as a G3, Onoufriou fired at the officers and fled the scene.
He opened fire at police officers again when they tracked him down at his hideaway in Lagia. While the gunfight took place, Onoufriou was with his five-year-old son who he had taken from the care of the convict’s mother and two sisters.
Back in 1996 Onoufriou was sentenced to 18 years in jail for the attempted murder of a judge in Limassol.
In 2012 he was named in a plot to murder then Attorney-general Petros Clerides but the charges were later dropped.
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