Woman who ‘fell’ at Aphrodite’s Rock murdered

Police confirmed they are treating the case of a 28-year-old Ukrainian woman found dead at the bottom of a cliff near popular tourist attraction Aphrodite’s Rock in Paphos as murder.

The victim was identified as Lesia Bykova, a Ukrainian national who is a permanent resident of Paphos.

Her 30-year-old partner, also from Ukraine, was taken into custody on Sunday after an autopsy found evidence of a criminal act.

He was scheduled to appear before a court in Paphos on Monday for a remand order on suspicion of premeditated murder.

The man had been with her at the scene when the woman fell off a 100-metre cliff.

A six-hour autopsy conducted by medical forensic examiners Angeliki Papetta and Orthodoxos Orthodoxou found the victim had injuries inconsistent with a free fall.

She had bruises around her neck, raising suspicions of premeditated murder.

It is also suspected the woman had also been raped before she died.

Her partner first claimed that the woman had fallen to her death after slipping while attempting to take a selfie photo.

The incident happened on Saturday afternoon in the vicinity of the well-known Aphrodite’s Rock when under circumstances being investigated, the woman was found death.