Brother held in custody after sister shot dead

A 23-year-old man was held in police custody for eight days by a Larnaca district court on Wednesday on suspicion of manslaughter after his sister, 21, was shot and killed with an army rifle.

The Greek Cypriot claimed he shot his sister by accident at their home in the village of Klavdia, outside Larnaca, while he was cleaning his military rifle.

The woman was fatally injured with a gunshot to the head.

Their mother was also reported to be in the house at the time of the incident.

The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon, with police announcing that they were investigating the fatal injury of a 21-year-old woman.

Authorities were reportedly alerted around 17.45, with an ambulance dispatched to the scene.

First-responders attended to an unconscious wounded woman, shot in the head, but were unable to revive her.

When questioned the woman’s brother, told police that he was cleaning his military-issued G3 assault rifle after a National Guard exercise, the remand hearing was told.

He claimed that he had returned from army reserve shooting practice, where his gun had jammed.

According to the man, the military technician overseeing the practice instructed him to clean the gun when he went home.

His allegations are being investigated as military exercises were cancelled during the coronavirus outbreak.

At the remand hearing, the court heard that police contacted the commander of the unit in which the suspect serves as a reserve, and he said there was no scheduled shooting practice on 5 May.

The commander also stated that the last shooting-range practice by the unit took place on 17 May 2019.

Police said evidence collected from the scene, includes a G3 rifle and a sealed package of 200 bullets. The package reportedly has a tear in it with 8 bullets missing.