A key eyewitness and video footage documenting the horrific crash that saw the deaths of four family members shortly after New Year were presented before Limassol Criminal Court during the ongoing trial of the 44-year-old Syrian driver accused of causing the crash.
The eyewitness, who is a taxi driver, described the events he saw unfold. The court was also shown video footage of the crash, which had been recorded by a nearby surveillance camera.
The victims were identified as 27-year-old Vathoula Georgiou, her 17-year-old brother Nikolas Georgiou, and their grandparents, 73-year-old Nikolas Zavrou and 74-year-old Evanthia Zavrou.
The collision occurred in the early hours of New Year’s Day when a pickup truck, driven by the 44-year-old, struck the vehicle driven by Vathoula as she attempted to make a right turn at a traffic light on Ayia Anastasia street.
The man’s wife, a 38-year-old woman, was a passenger. All four members of the Georgiou family died instantly, and the Fire Service had to be called in to remove their bodies from the wreckage.
The driver and passenger of the other vehicle were taken to the hospital, and the man was later arrested. Initial tests for alcohol and drugs returned negative results.
In his testimony on Monday, the taxi driver recalled the terrifying moments of the crash.
“I saw the vehicle coming very fast, and it was heading into the intersection, where there was a small red car with its lights coming towards me,” he said.
“The atmosphere turned dark in front of me. I couldn’t see until the dust settled. I hadn’t seen the movement of the two vehicles before the crash.”
The taxi driver further recounted how another woman, who had been driving behind his vehicle, was the first to approach the victims’ car.
“From what I could make out, there was an unconscious person in the driver’s seat, and in the back, I saw another person who seemed to be breathing,” he testified.
He also mentioned that it was only the next day, after hearing the news, that he learned two more people were inside the red car. He said that he hadn’t approached the defendant’s pickup truck, and no one from that vehicle had exited at the time.
The witness went on to explain that he heard about the crash later through the radio, where it was mentioned that authorities were seeking testimony from a taxi driver who had been at the scene.
The taxi driver added that he left the scene before the ambulance and police arrived. “From the blood on the girl driving, I thought she was a man,” he explained, adding that he stayed at the scene for around ten minutes before departing.
He described the defendant’s vehicle as moving “at an incredible speed” when it collided with the victims’ car.
“It turned into a cloud,” he said, adding that the impact was violent, with a deafening noise, and chaos followed the crash.
During cross-examination, the defence lawyer questioned why the witness had not mentioned the “incredible speed” of the vehicle in his initial statement to the police.
At an earlier hearing in September, a Limassol police officer, who was part of the team responsible for reconstructing the crash, was also called to testify.
The officer was also asked about how police had measured the speed of the defendant’s vehicle, which was recorded at 108 km/h.
