Murder suspects filmed running away from court
The two men accused of murdering 45-year-old Ayca Alav in Nicosia’s walled city last December were on Thursday filmed running away from court after having been taken there in a prison van for their latest hearing.
The pair arrived at northern Nicosia’s courthouse in the walled city, before making a break for it and running eastwards out of the court complex, across Kyrenia street and then up Adana street.
They were eventually caught by police and returned to court.
At a previous hearing, it had been explained that the two suspects, one of whom worked at Alav’s Hit Bit shop, proceeded to enter the shop tie her arms and legs with a seatbelt before placing duct tape across her mouth.
It had earlier been revealed that having killed her, the pair made their way to the bureau de change Alav owned, which is located near the Kyrenia gate, from where they stole an “undetermined amount” of cash.
They added that the pair crossed to the Republic on the same day, and that the following day, an autopsy revealed Alav’s cause of death to be having her airways closed and neck injuries.
They said the pair were identified and arrested in Pyla on January 8, though this fact remains a point of question and controversy.