Paphos Life

The Paphos Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced 35-year-old Demetris Ilidzides to two and a half years in prison for causing the death of father-of-two Robert James (Charlie) Birch, 39, through reckless driving last year in Peyia....

Read the article and chat about it below...

It seems a very lenient sentence for purposefully running someone down and killing them..

Two & a half years sentence, but with good behaviour, will be out much sooner! Where was the justice> That sentence was utterly disgraceful and did not in any way fit the crime and the death of an innocent man!

Absolute joke of a sentence. One wonders if it would have been so lenient if it had been local Cypriots that were killed.
The drink driving & leaving the scene alone should be that sentence. How cheap a mans life - disgusting.

Why am I not surprised? Utterly disgusting. That poor man lost his life and that utter scum pretty much got away with it. Absolute filth.

I hope the AG raises this lenient sentence as an injustice & seeks to have it reviewed, as he has done on a previous occasion.

Austin7 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2019 12:04 pm Two and a half years for what was in fact premeditated murder

He was not found guilty of murder. I understand where you're coming from, but punishments are based only on guilty verdicts and he was found guilty of reckless driving, neither murder nor manslaughter. That having been said, I concur that 'reckless driving' does not seem to fit the events, but I'm not a lawyer. One should ask on what grounds the heavier charges were dropped.

Excellent Defence Lawyer.............. for the defendant to be charged reckless driving

The family should take it to the European Court of Justice

Was the court sitting with a jury or was the judgement handed down by a judge?

Varky wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2019 5:31 pm Was the court sitting with a jury or was the judgement handed down by a judge?

I don't know the answer to this question , but if there was a jury they only decide guilty or not guilty.
The judge decides the sentence..

Cyprus Mail

since his imprisonment in June 2018

Will this time he was in prison be deducted from his 2 & 1/2 years ??

I would think the answer will be Yes.. So with time off for not escaping he will probably be out for Christmas

trevnhil wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2019 6:17 pm

Varky wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2019 5:31 pm Was the court sitting with a jury or was the judgement handed down by a judge?

I don't know the answer to this question , but if there was a jury they only decide guilty or not guilty.
The judge decides the sentence..

I am fully aware of that but basically I am asking at what stage and by whom was the charge reduced. I am sure that if a jury was sitting and found the man guilty of either murder or manslaughter then no judge would have been able to hand down a sentence of only two and a half years.

Ignore my response. Having read the Cyprus Mail report it appears that the prosecution reduced the sentence and the fact that the man was drunk was not taken into consideration only that he admitted to causing the accident. In any normal country if the accused was drunk and caused death by dangerous driving they would be facing a lengthy jail sentence

As far as I know. Cyprus does not have any jury's in their courts

So there is no in-built nepotism in the prosecution service and judicial system?