Police: Escaped convict is armed, two more arrested

The convict with a life sentence who managed to slip away from police is armed, unlikely to give himself in and has a plan to travel to Colombia via the north, police said on Friday.

Authorities were desperately scrambling to locate 42-year-old convicted double-murderer Theodoros Theofanous, also known in Greek as ‘kommotis’ (hairdresser) after he slipped away from a seven-member guard on Thursday when visiting his family at their home in Choletria village, Paphos.

The ‘prison break from home’ however prompted heavy fire against police, the prison department and justice ministry for the apparent ease with which Theofanous managed to get away.

Instructions have been issued to suspend all seven individuals involved in the team that oversaw Theofanous during his family visit, while an investigation is underway.

So far, four people have been arrested. His 68-year-old father, a 43-year-old Syrian national Theofanous did time with, and later on Friday evening a father-son duo aged 51 and 26, who reportedly drove Theofanous from Paphos to Limassol.

Theofanous, a hairdresser, was convicted 13 years ago of the double murder of his partner Yulia Oporok and her three-year-old child, while the victim was four months pregnant at the time. He received 24 and 35-year consecutive sentences for the crimes.

In his first statements some 24 hours after the convict escaped, Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis said they were exploring possible disciplinary offences, including dereliction of duty that led to Theofanous’ escape.

MPs piled on the criticism as the House legal affairs committee added the topic as a snap matter next week. Tabled by Disy, it has invited the police chief, justice minister, prison service management and the ombudswoman to the session as MPs seek answers on how this was allowed to happen.

“A ruthless criminal is roaming free. And no one has yet to take any responsibility for it,” Akel said. It slung a dig to the last time a convict escaped in 2008 – infamous Antonis Procopiou Kitas, where the justice minister had handed in his resignation

Hartsiotis said three contract worker prison guards who escorted Theofanous have been suspended.

The individual who headed the team is a permanent member of the prison service and as such, the minister said he wrote to the public service commission requesting his suspension.

This brings the total number of those suspended to seven – as three members of the riot police who made up the team were suspended by police a day earlier. The latter were supposed to be monitoring the outside of the family home.

The convict’s 68-year-old father and a 43-year-old Syrian national both appeared before Paphos district court for a remand order after their arrest. The latter denied any involvement, saying he knew the convict when he served time behind bars but now works as a builder and has no contact with him.

The judge reserved their decision for Saturday however the two suspects will remain in custody.

Theofanous’ cousin reportedly told police he had called her at 7.39am after his escape.

Paphos Criminal Investigation Department officer Andronikos Tsappis told court Theofanous had long planned his escape. His father is believed to have contacts in the north to aid in his getaway and reportedly had sworn to his friends that he would get his son out of jail before he died.

According to Tsappis, the plan involved Theofanous going to the north and then via Turkey going to Latin America, specifically Colombia as it is a country that Cyprus does not have an extradition treaty with.

Tsappis said the convict had filed a request to get visitation leave on September 18. He submitted a list of 23 people he claimed would be at his home during the visit.

The request was approved. Under Cyprus’ prison rules, if a life convict exceeds 10 years in jail, they are allowed external visits.

Over the past four years, Theofanous had reportedly been granted leave to visit his parents, approximately once every three months.

Police have obtained testimony that Theofanous’ father had been selling property to gather money and had tried to recently sell a house for €100,000 last month.