Nicosia Criminal Court on Wednesday found Marios Hadjixenophontos guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of a Nicosia high school teacher and his wife at their Strovolos home in April 2018.
The court cleared Hadjixenophontos of premeditated murder, but amended the charge sheet to find him guilty of manslaughter as well as robbery, conspiracy, abduction, carrying an offensive weapon and burglary.
Defence will argue in mitigation of the sentence on February 11.
Yiorgos Hadjigeorghiou and his wife Dina Sergiou were found dead of multiple stab wounds at their home, the former in the living room and the latter in the bedroom.
Their 16 year old son had been locked in a cupboard but managed to free himself and alert the neighbours after the murders.
Loizos Tzionis, described as the mastermind of the crime and was charged with premeditated murder, was last July handed down two consecutive life sentences for the brutal killings after he took the court and his lawyer by suprise and changed his plea to guilty.
Two other defendants, Lefteris Solomou was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to the lesser charges of robbery and conspiracy while Tzionis’ ex girl friend Sarah Siams who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and appeared as a prosecution witness was jailed for four.
Hadjixenophontos was the only one of the four defendants in the case to insist on his innocence. His lawyer has argued before the court that he was blackmailed by Tzionis to go to the Strovolos home and was outside when the murders were committed.
Read more
https://in-cyprus.com/tzionis-sentenced-to-two-consecutive-life-sentences-for-strovolos-double-murder/
