The trial of the two men who stand accused of having murdered 39-year-old Andreas Kouzoupis and 38-year-old David Chmelar and then putting their bodies in a car which they then set on fire was on Thursday adjourned until December 13.
The pair appeared in court in Limassol on Thursday, where their lawyers asked for the case to be adjourned to allow them time to study new witness material and telecommunications data retrieved from the suspects’ mobile phones.
The pair face a litany of charges, including first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, arson of a vehicle, and the unlawful possession and use of a firearm.
Both victims were found charred inside a vehicle while both had sustained gunshot wounds to the head.
Autopsies later revealed that the pair had been shot, before their bodies were bundled into an Opel Astra. The two perpetrators had reportedly initially intended to push the car off a cliff, but after this proved impossible, they bought fuel from a petrol station and set the car on fire.
In a previous court hearing, a police representative had said Kouzoupis had reportedly arranged to sell a loudspeaker to the 19-year-old suspect for €800, but that the suspect then changed his mind and received threats.
Kouzoupis’ father said his son had left their home in a village in the Limassol district and said that someone would come to buy the loudspeaker for €800. He said his son had then returned to the house and taken the loudspeaker himself, leaving it in another person’s vehicle.
Searches of the burned wreckage of the vehicle found a loudspeaker and a spear gun, while, following interrogations, police determined that the 19-year-old had in fact been interested in buying a loudspeaker, and he had asked the 23-year-old “for help” when he began receiving threats.
