The brutal murder of 61-year-old Dorotheos Dimitriades by a group of people who beat him to death has shocked Cypriot society over its callousness.
As it emerged, the man was killed after trying to settle a dispute over €200 between a family member and her neighbours.
Police have arrested seven people in connection with the shocking crime on 4 January.
The main suspects are a couple, a 35-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman, and five more people aged 24-28 are also in custody.
Two underaged children of the main suspects were also taken into care and handed to Social Welfare Services following their parents’ arrest.
The remand order of those arrested expires on Friday, and they are expected to be referred to trial on charges of murder and manslaughter.
Police are still going through audiovisual evidence and taking testimonies from eyewitnesses.
The crime had been caught on a CCTV circuit.
The brutal incident was caused by a transaction, with the couple arrested owing the relative of the murdered man €200.
The victim asked for the amount when an argument between them turned violent.
At around 17:30 on 4 January, the 31-year-old woman came down from her apartment and met the victim’s family friend at the entrance.
There was a row, and the police were called.
The older man was informed of the incident, escorting his relative to the police station to file a complaint.
Later in the evening, Dorotheos knocked on the couple’s door.
The couple opened the door, and a verbal confrontation followed, leading to a fight between the 35-year-old man and the victim.
According to police, the 35-year-old was heard telling one of his children to go to the nearby square and call for help from everyone there.
A CCTV camera caught five people entering the apartment with the elderly man on the ground.
The camera recorded seven people beating and dragging the elderly man from a first-floor apartment down the building’s staircase to the ground floor.
A resident called the police, who arrived on the scene, but five people had fled.
Police officers found the 61-year-old in front of the apartment building’s entrance.
An ambulance was called to the scene, but paramedics said the man had died.
