Sacked police chief was ‘living on borrowed time’

The escape of lifer Doros Theofanous while on a home visit was the latest scandal to rock the government, getting the president to act uncharacteristically tough by sacking three senior officials. And though more heads could roll, the question remains: will any actual far-reaching changes be made to ensure this sort of fiasco doesn’t happen again?

Theofanous had been sentenced to life in 2012 after he murdered his 24-year-old pregnant partner and her three-year-old daughter.

On Thursday, September 26 he slipped his guards while visiting his family home in Choletria, Paphos. He had been given leave to attend a party.

The convict’s escape sparked a manhunt across the country and he was eventually apprehended four days later.

Last Monday, right after returning from overseas, President Nikos Christodoulides proceeded to fire the chief of police, the deputy police chief and the acting director of the Central Prisons.

Meantime more details trickled out about the circumstances of the felon’s escape: he had no handcuffs on at the time; none of his escorts had eyes on him while he was in the house with his relatives; and the perimeter was evidently not secured, as Theofanous managed to make a run for it.

Naturally, questions were raised about why such a hardened criminal was being granted leave in the first place. It later came out that although lifers are not entitled to home visits for the first 10 ten years of their term, Theofanous became eligible after just seven years.

Daily Phileleftheros also reported that on occasion the convict even got to go to the theatre, escorted by wardens.

On Monday also, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said a main reason for the dismissals of the police chief and his deputy was that the restructuring, modernisation and reform of the police force were moving too slowly. Meanwhile the justice minister – the political supervisor of the police and the prisons department – was left unscathed.

The Cyprus Mail tried to learn more about this reform of the police force. We called Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis, but he could not be reached in time for this report. And scant information was available on government websites regarding the proposed restructuring or the road map mentioned.

But speaking to two sources, one close to the government, we got the sense the president had long considered dismissing Stelios Papatheodorou from his post as police chief.

“It appears the president was quite displeased with the police’s handling of the anti-migrant riots in Chlorakas in August 2023,” said the government source, who did not wish to be named.

Papatheodorou didn’t lose his job at the time. But since then, the president may have been waiting for a pretext to let him go.

“I think he [Christodoulides] found an excuse now to fire Papatheodorou,” said a retired senior police officer who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

The source spoke of a perception inside the police force that Papatheodorou was not up to the task in general.

“Still, why sack the police chief? He’s not responsible for the escape. And then why not also dismiss the head of the rapid response unit, MMAD? After all, the unit participated in the convict’s escort detail.

“Not to say the president should have fired the head of MMAD…just pointing out the inconsistency,” said the source. “Which makes me believe that Papatheodorou was living on borrowed time.”

He said that the fault lies squarely with the prisons department. It is responsible for convicts, although the police may assist in guarding if and when requested.

The prisons department is a separate department to the police, even though they both come under the political supervision of the justice ministry. The former is not a security service, the latter is.

Also, different hiring protocols apply. Prison wardens need only a high-school diploma to qualify. And they sit different exams than that of the police.

Prison wardens are civil servants, members of the Pasydy union. Whereas police officers, our source said, are strictly speaking not civil servants, rather they’re considered security personnel like the military.

Regardless, the ex-cop concedes that major errors were committed.

“No, it’s not normal for lifers to get home leave. Sometimes they’re granted leave outside the prisons, but under special circumstances and safeguards, but certainly not to attend home parties like in this case.

“So there may well be more than meets the eye here, but we’ll have to wait and see from the investigation. The least we can safely say at this stage is that the guards dropped the ball, and so did the person or persons who drew up the protocols for the escort detail in question.”

Speculating a little, the source also thinks the convict may have lulled authorities into complacency due to his good conduct as an inmate.

“But still, that’s no excuse for the lax measures.”

Meantime the new police chief, Themistos Arnaoutis, has a reputation as a solid officer who gets things done. Drawn from the force’s ranks, he served as head of the investigative team for the Helios airplane crash in 2005.

Later, Arnaoutis took part in investigations into what led to the 2013 financial crisis, and was involved in solving the quadruple Ayia Napa gangland murders case, cementing his image as an expert in solving difficult high-profile crimes.