Police probe brutal murder after woman found

Police suspect murder after the body of a Romanian woman was found in a vacated property in mid-town Nicosia.

Police are now looking for her husband and another person believed to have been living with her.

The body was found when a real estate agent and another person went to inspect the property at around 4:30 pm Tuesday.

Police said the woman was found with her face badly battered and bloodied.

“She sustained head injuries caused by a sharp object,” said CID Nicosia director Andreas Lambrianou.

He also said preliminary findings suggested a crime had been committed within the last 24 hours inside the home but cautioned they could not confirm whether the victim had been living there.

The property is a house on Atho Street, off the busy Kennedy Avenue in the capital.

Reports say that although the property had been vacated, it was frequented by people described as “homeless”.

According to police sources, neighbours said they had seen two men in the house.

Police told the Financial Mirror the woman was aged 50 to 55, and possibly from Romania, as documents found near her body indicate.

Initial investigations revealed the woman had suffered injuries to her head and face.

Police believe the perpetrator may have hit her head on the corner of a sofa in the room.

An autopsy on the body is being carried out Wednesday.

Nicosia Criminal Investigation Department officers took DNA samples to identify the victim and ascertain whether any genetic material could belong to the perpetrator or perpetrators.

Fingerprints were also taken, while police obtained CCTV camera footage in the area in the hope of identifying the two men said to have been living with her.

Details of the two suspects have been forwarded to all exit points from the Republic.