Cypriot army captain breaks down in tears as he is given seven life sentences after admitting he is the island’s first-ever serial killer
‘I have committed abhorrent crimes’ – Capt. Nicos Metaxas
Nicos Metaxas appeared under heavy guard in court in Cyprus on Monday, wearing a bullet-proof vest
The Cypriot army captain broke down in tears as he was handed seven life sentences after admitting he is the island’s first-ever serial killer
He admitted to kidnapping and murdering five women and two children on Monday, all foreign nationals
The disgraced who admiyyed to being the island nation’s first serial killer Army captain wept as he pled guilty to charges of murder and kidnapping
He apologised to the victims’ families and said he did not know why he committed the “hateful crimes”
‘I have committed abhorrent crimes’: Nicos Metaxas, [photo] pled guilty to kidnapping and murdering five women and two children on Monday
Army captain Nicos Metaxas, has been sentenced to seven life terms after he admitted to being the island’s first known serial killer on Monday.
Metaxas, 35, told a court in the capital Nicosia on Monday: “I have committed abhorrent crimes,” before confessing to kidnapping and murdering five women and two children between 2016 and 2018.
Wearing a bullet-proof vest, Metaxas apologised to the families of his victims – all of whom were overseas workers – before breaking down in tears.
Nikos Metaxas Monday pled guilty to 12 charges relating to the abduction and killing of seven women and girls in Cyprus over three years.
In tears, he apologized to the victims’ families and said he did not know why he committed the “hateful crimes”.
Dubious distinction: Metaxas, 35, has admitted being Cyprus’s first-known serial killer. He received seven life sentences after confessing to the crimes
Investigations kicked off after the body of Mary Rose Tiburcio, [left], was discovered on April 14 at a disused mine-shaft. Her six-year-old daughter Sierra [left], is also feared dead
All of the victims were foreign workers living on the island. Capt. Metaxas is also suspected of killing Romanian mother Livia Florentina Bunea, 36, [left] and her daughter Elena Natalia, 8, [right] who last seen in 2016
The two children, aged six and eight, were daughters of two of the women.
Metaxas was taken under heavy security to the courthouse on Monday, where he appeared without a lawyer.
He broke down in tears as police read the indictment against him. ‘I have committed abhorrent crimes,’ he said, expressing condolences to the families of the victims.
A guilty plea in the Cyprus judicial process means the court will hear the facts of the case and then proceed to sentencing.
Metaxas faces seven life sentences. The court is expected to deliver its verdict later on Monday.
Police say the accused met the women online. The victims were mostly employed as housekeepers on the island.
Officers remove the remains after police in Cyprus found body of the serial killer’s fifth victim. Metaxas court appearance came as police reportedly found a suitcase containing the remains of a human body, believed to be that of a child
The police chief was sacked and the justice minister resigned following accounts of bungled investigations by police who did not take the disappearances seriously because the women were foreign.
The first victim was found dead by tourists shooting pictures at a mining shaft in late April, when the bodies of two women – Marry Rose Tiburcio, 38, and Arian Palanas Lozano, 28, both from the Philippines, were discovered, unraveling the killing spree.
One of the bodies was spotted by tourists down a mine shaft that had flooded following heavy rains.
Victims Maricar Valtez Arquiola, 31, [left] and Arian Palanos Lozano, 28, [right], hreportedly were the first remains found
The discoveries triggered an investigation and, after tracking Tiburcio’s online messages, police arrested Metaxas on suspicion of murder.
Initially hee denied killing a third Filipino woman, Maricar Valtez Arquiola, 31, who was reported missing in 2017, but then changed his testimony and confessed yo the killing.
Following his arrest, Metaxas showed investigators to a well at an army firing range where the body of one of the victims was discovered.
Metaxas reportedly gave police detailed information about how he disposed of the bodies.
The last victim discovered, the six-year-old child, was found in a lake on July 12.
In sentencing the former army captain to seven prison terms of 25 years, a panel of three judges said Metaxas had “embarked on a campaign to kill defenseless women”.
Metaxas is not expected to appeal.
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