Limassol court ends further detention for crash driver

A 48-year-old man who drove into the back of a car killing its driver, 25, in Limassol late last month, has been freed until the attorney-general decides what charges to bring against him, CyBC reported on Sunday.

Last Monday Attorney-general Costas Clerides instructed police to look into whether manslaughter charges could be brought against Yiannis Kyriakides

Kyriakides is already facing charges in connection with causing death by negligence, refusal to undergo a breathalyser test, impersonation, assault, driving while his licence was suspended and disobeying a court order.

But he could also face life in jail, after Clerides said that the events concerning the accident were so extreme, that he had decided to give instructions for the incident to be investigated as manslaughter. The maximum sentence for manslaughter is life in prison.

A Limassol District Court hearing at the general hospital on Sunday where Kyriakides, is still being treated for a leg fracture, rejected the request of police to renew the detention order for another three days, CyBC said.

Kyriakides has been under police guard at the hospital since October 31 but the court said it did not see any reason for a further detention order.

He had slammed into the rear of Stephanos Georgiou’s car, which was stopped at the traffic lights in the Enaerios area at around 3am on October 30.

He is suspected of driving while drunk, without a valid licence and insurance.

Kyriakides, a taxi driver, had been given a two-month suspended sentence earlier this year for speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Both his professional and personal driver’s licences had been revoked for six months.

Daily Politis reported that the man was a serial offender, having 14 convictions for speeding between 1990 and 2015.