Some 15 police officers face disciplinary sanctions for allegedly botching investigations into the disappearance of seven foreign women and children, later found murdered by serial killer Nicos Metaxas.
They escaped criminal prosecution six months ago when Attorney General George Savvides ruled that it could not be “proven beyond reasonable doubt” the officers deliberately neglected their duty after looking at the evidence.
In June, the Attorney General said that from the evidence gathered, there was no apparent negligence or misconduct, to a greater or lesser degree depending on the case.
Savvides said: “If they had failed to realise that the cases concerned the possibility of murder, it does not in itself imply willful and deliberate dereliction of duty”.
However, the officers will be facing a Disciplinary Committee, following instructions sent to the Chief of Police from the Independent Authority for the Investigation of Allegations and Complaints against the Police.
Phileleftheros daily reported the officers involved would be informed of the charges brought against them by the committee to be appointed by the Assistant Chief of Police.
It has not been made clear whether all 15 officers will face the same charges or separate ones requiring individual case studies.
The first missing persons’ report, involving a woman from Romania and her underaged daughter, was filed in Larnaca, while the rest were filed in Nicosia and Limassol.
The 15 officers faced criminal charges for not carrying out their duties when friends and family of five women and two children came forward to report their disappearance.
The women and children were later found to have been murdered by a serial killer.
Army captain Metaxas, 35, was sentenced to five consecutive life terms in prison after pleading guilty to premeditated murder and kidnapping his seven victims in June 2019.
Metaxas abducted and murdered his seven victims from the Philippines, Romania, and Nepal between September 2016 and August 2018.
The two children, aged six and eight, were daughters of two of the women.
Police said Metaxas, a divorced father of two, met the women online, four of whom were employed as housekeepers.
The first victim was found dead by tourists shooting pictures at a mining shaft on 14 April 2019, unravelling the macabre killing spree.
The last victim discovered, the 6-year-old child, was found in a lake on 12 June 2019.
