Death of 21-year-old in Larnaca District | The allegations of the suspect raises questions

Defence Redefined

06/05/2020

According to a police statement, the Larnaca District Court issued an eight-day detention order against a 23-year-old man, who was arrested for facilitating investigations into a manslaughter case that took place on Wednesday May 05 in Larnaca district.

The 23-year-old was arrested when he fatally wounded a 21-year-old woman with a G3 military rifle he was handling. Members of the Larnaca Homicide Department (TAE) visited the scene and located the 21-year-old, who was then transported by ambulance to the General Hospital of Larnaca, where she was pronounced dead. According to the examinations, the unfortunate girl was fatally injured on the head.

The suspect, who was questioned, stated that on May 5 he went to a camp in the province of Larnaca for the planned shooting of his Unit. He claimed that during the firing, the gun jammed and the gunsmith of the unit advised him to clean it when he returned home. On the same day, according to the suspect’s allegations, as he was cleaning his gun, the gun fired, resulting in the fatal hitting of his 21-year-old sister, who was sitting opposite him in the living room of their house.

The police collected a G3 military rifle from the house of the suspect along with a packaging of 200 /7,62 mm cartridges, from which 8 were missing, for further investigation.

The allegation raises questions, as according to a statement issued on March 15, the Ministry of Defence had suspended all the routine activities of the reserves until the end of the restrictive measures. Furthermore, in a statement issued on April 27, the Ministry extended the suspension of presentations until May 31.

The last routine activity involving reserves from the 23-year-old unit, according to the Press Spokesman of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Christos Pieris, took place in October 2019, while the last shooting exercise was in May 2019.

It should be noted that during the presentations of the reservists at their Units, an inspection is carried out on the armaments and ammunition of each reserve and in the event of a loss, a military investigation is carried out immediately, while the Police is immediately informed so as to investigate the incident.

According to reliable information, there are no thoughts in MoD and National Guard General Staff for a review of the policy regarding thousands of G3 military rifles which are in the possession of the reserves for operational reasons.

In another development, the Citizens’ Alliance (Symmaxia Politon) took a stand on the incident and the issue of weapons permit by the reserve forces proposing the establishment of a procedure for assessing the possession and removal of weapons where necessary.