Five years for man guilty of two attempted armed robberies

Limassol Criminal Court on Friday handed down a five-year jail sentence to a 31-year-old man found guilty of two attempted armed robberies.

The offences were committed in Limassol in August and September.  The defendant was arrested on September 10 soon after an attempt was made to rob a Limassol coffeeshop. The 71-year-old coffeeshop manager had told police that he had been standing outside, alone, when a car suddenly stopped and the driver got out, threatened him with a gun and demanded money.

He was however seen by other people in the area and drove away. A little later, police spotted a suspicious vehicle with no registration plates in Ypsonas industrial area. The driver ignored a police signal to stop, waved the gun at police and sped off. At some point, the driver got out of the car, threatened police officers with a gun and drove off, with police firing warning shots. He was then seen throwing the gun out of the window, and it was picked up by police. The man was later spotted4 on foot in the Polemidhia area and arrested.

During their investigation, police obtained testimony implicating him with an attempted robbery of a Limassol kiosk the previous month.

In that case, a young man had gone into a kiosk and demanded the money from the till at gunpoint. The employee refused, the man thew the till to the floor but fled without taking anything.