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Briton outraged by delay to assault case over house dispute

BRITISH home buyer Conor O’Dwyer was furious yesterday that it will have taken more than a year for Paralimni court to hear his case involving an alleged beating by the property developers with whom he is in dispute over a house purchase.

On Thursday the developers, Karayiannas, father and son, pleaded not guilty to grievous bodily harm after O’Dwyer spent a week in Larnaca hospital at the beginning of this year.

According to O’Dwyer’s lawyer Yiannos Georgiaides the court set the hearing for January 20, 2009. The assault happened on January 14 this year.

A third man, who O’Dwyer claims held him down while the two developers attacked him in the centre of Frenaros, failed to show up at court on Thursday but his lawyer guaranteed the judge that he would show up on October 23 to enter a plea and the arrest warrant was cancelled.

Georgiades said from the date of the assault to the date of the hearing was more than a year. “We had to keep contacting the Attorney General’s office for a long time for information on the prosecution case,” said Georgiades. “Conor is justifiably upset over the delay in taking the case to court. It’s not usual for the courts to fix dates such a long way off.”

He said cases involving assault were usually tried very quickly.

O’Dwyer, 39, who has spent the last 60 days protesting outside the Cyprus High Commission in London said he was furious over the length of time it was taking considering it was a criminal case and not a civil one.

He added police had not filed any charges against the father and son, who O’Dwyer said had grabbed his mobile phone and the memory stick from his camera the day he was assaulted. O’Dwyer had been filming the alleged confrontation. His phone was never recovered and the camera was returned empty.

“It’s all absolutely disgusting,” said O’Dwyer. He said he had met the new Cyprus High Commissioner and another Cypriot official on Thursday and made his feelings clear. “I let them know I was annoyed,” he said. “And I gave them a list of my grievances. I have been here 60 nights. Where is the investigation into the unlawful selling of my house that the Minister said in August 2007, would be carried out?”

“My money is in his (Karayiannas) bank and someone else is living in my house”.

Every detail of O’ Dwyer’s case has been outlined on his website www.lyingbuilder.com and he has now set up a new site www.ShameOnCyprus.com.

O’Dwyer said the only option left to him was the road to Strasbourg. He has hired an EU law firm in London and plans to take action against Karayiannas, the developers` lawyers in Paralimni and another law firm that used to represent him but now represents the developers, and all those who have defamed his name.

“What happened on Thursday with the court case was the final insult,” O’Dwyer said.

Commenting on the response he has been receiving from the Cyprus High Commission in London, O`Dwyer said it’s always “investigation, investigation, investigation”. But nothing has changed since August 2007,” he said.

“I have been here 60 days. My wife and children are upset that I’m here and I have lost two stones in weight but I am determined not to move”.

October 5, 2008
(Source: Cyprus Mail)

Tent protest aims to shame Cyprus in dispute with developers

BRITISH home buyer Conor O’Dwyer marked his 39th birthday yesterday far away from his wife and children as he continued his indefinite protest outside the Cyprus High Commission in London.

O’Dwyer began his protest camping outside the Cypriot diplomatic mission this month because August marks two years since he was due to move his family to Cyprus, and August marks the anniversary of when the Minister of the Interior told the media he was looking into the unlawful selling of O’Dwyer’s house.

In two years, no progress has been made on O’Dwyer’s case outlined on his website www.lyingbuilder.com, and he has now set up a new site www.ShameOnCyprus.com, which will focus initially on his protest in London.

“I am still getting the same rhetoric that I was getting two years ago,” O’Dwyer said yesterday. ‘That’s why I’m protesting. I’m not going anywhere until they drag this case to court and take the developers off to jail. I deserve my day in court.”

O’Dwyer spent a week in Larnaca hospital last January after he was beaten up in Frenaros when he went to take pictures of the house he had bought and over which he later came into dispute with the developers.

They have been charged by police in connection with the attack on O’Dwyer in Frenaros, but the case has yet to reach the courts.

He says the developers unilaterally cancelled his contract and kept his money, some £75,000 sterling, because he had pulled them up over what he saw as a misrepresentation of their deal. That case is also pending at court. The developers have accused O’Dwyer of allegedly masterminding a plan to extort a newer more expensive property, and exorbitant damages from the company.

“My case is undeniable,” said O’Dwyer who, said that if anyone bothered to look at it, it could be solved in an afternoon. “It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure it out. This whole thing stinks.”

O’Dwyer did receive a visit from an official at the Cyprus High Commission on Friday but the official only gave him “the same old story”, he said. A new High Commissioner is due to be in place next week, whom O’Dwyer hopes might listen to him.

Since the indefinite protest began, O’Dwyer has been sleeping in a tent and spends his day updating his new website and talking to passers-by, including, he said, potential British property buyers for Cyprus. “A few have now been put off buying in Cyprus when they heard what happened to me,” he said. “I’m not going to stay quiet any more and watch other people lose their savings. I’m sleeping in a tent. That’s what I got for my £75,000. I’ve lost my home but I’m not moving from here until I let everyone know what a corrupt society Cyprus is.”

By Jean Christou – Cyprus Mail
Published on August 15, 2008

London property protest

A GROUP of British expats frustrated with the judicial system in Cyprus protested at Alexandra Palace London on Sunday where President Demetris Christofias was addressing a gathering of UK-based Cypriots.

The protest was led by Conor O’Dwyer, 38, from Surrey who bought a house off plan in Cyprus in 2005 and has since entered in to a lengthy legal battle with the developers.

Unable so far to receive justice in Cyprus, O’Dwyer decided to take his protest to London during Christofias’ visit at the weekend. Holding placards calling for justice and an end to corruption, the protestors camped out in front of the venue.

O’Dwyer was joined by the relatives of expats in Cyprus who are also experiencing legal difficulties over properties they have purchased on the island. Problems include non issuing of title deeds, structural faults, illegal building, or developers extorting immovable property tax and transfer fees, they say.

O’Dwyer said yesterday the protest went very well.

“We didn’t see the President ourselves but hundreds of guests came past our protest stand and accepted leaflets,” he said. “Some were shocked at the severity of the cases represented but few were surprised with problems like the issuing of title deeds as their own families had fallen victim to this trap.”

He said the protestors were highlighting a broad range of issues and said it would be good to have the future support of the London Greek Cypriot community.

“Yesterday [Sunday] was a nice introduction,” he said.

O’Dwyer was badly beaten in Frenaros in January this year after taking photographs outside the house he owns in the village. The developers who sold him the property, and with whom he is engaged in a legal dispute, were later arrested and charged with assault. O’Dwyer, who details his entire case on the website lyingbuilder.com and on YouTube, spent over a week in Larnaca hospital.

By: Jean Christou Published: Tuesday 20th May 2008
To see comments from British expats read this article in the Cyprus Property News
Copyright © Cyprus Property News

διαμαρτυρία 14-05-2008

Υμετ. Σχετ. Γ.Ε. 93/1984/123 & Γ.Ε. 9/52/427        Ημετ. Σχετ. Ο.9-146/2007        Ημερ. 14 Μαΐου 2008

Γενικό Εισαγγελέα της Δημοκρατίας
Κον Πέτρο Κληρίδη
Γραφείο Γενικού Εισαγγελέα
Λευκωσία

«Με το φαξ & δια χειρός»

Έντιμε κύριε Γενικέ,

Θέμα: ΚΑΚΟΠΟΙΗΣΗ ΤΟΥ CORNELIUS DESMOND O’DWYER/ Γ.Ε. 93/1984/123 & Γ.Ε.9/52/427.

Αναφέρομαι στο πιο πάνω θέμα και περαιτέρω προηγούμενης μας αλληλογραφίας σας ενημερώνω ότι τα θέματα που εγέρθηκαν μεταξύ ενός απλού αγοραστή και ενός Υπεύθυνου ανάπτυξης γης (developer), έχουν πάρει σοβαρές διαστάσεις, τύπου χιονοστιβάδας, κατά τρόπο που έχουν αρνητικό αντίκτυπο για το καλό όνομα της Κύπρου.

Λόγω του ότι δεν επιλύονται οι διαφορές σε σχέση με την οικία που είχε αγοράσει ο πελάτης μας, επέλεξε να εκφράσει τη διαμαρτυρία του μέσω ιστοσελίδας όπου δημοσίευσε το πρόβλημα του. Επίσης είχε προβεί σε άλλες διαμαρτυρίες κατά τη διάρκεια εκθέσεων που έγιναν στο Λονδίνο και αφορούσαν επενδύσεις σε ακίνητη περιουσία στην Κύπρο.

Περαιτέρω σας ενημερώνουμε ότι κατά τη διάρκεια της επικείμενης επίσκεψης του Προέδρου της Δημοκρατίας στο Λονδίνο στις 18/5/2008, ο πελάτης μας προτίθεται να κάνει και άλλη διαμαρτυρία.

Λόγω της σοβαρότητας του θέματος πιστεύω ότι χρήζει άμεσης αντιμετώπισης και λήψης παραδειγματικών μέτρων έτσι ώστε να αποτραπούν άτομα που ασχολούνται με τέτοιου είδους επιχειρήσεις από το προβαίνουν σε πράξεις οι οποίες να επηρεάζουν τα δικαιώματα αγοραστών ακίνητης περιουσίας στην Κύπρο.

Η συμπεριφορά αυτών των ατόμων αποτελεί πληγή στην οικονομία και επηρεάζει τα συμφέροντα ατόμων που έχουν παρόμοιου είδους επιχειρήσεις καθώς επίσης αποτελεί και σοβαρό πλήγμα σε βάρος της οικονομίας της χώρας μας και ευρύτερα των Κυπριακών συμφερόντων από τέτοιου είδους συμπεριφορές.

Παρακαλώ όπως λάβετε όλα τα αναγκαία μέτρα για την αντιμετώπιση του προβλήματος.

Με τιμή,
Γεωργιάδης & Μυλωνάς
Δικηγόροι & Νομικοί Σύμβουλοι
Κοινοποίηση:

1. Υπουργό Εμπορίου, Βιομηχανίας & Τουρισμού
2. Υπουργό Δικαιοσύνης και Δημοσίας Τάξης
3. Υπουργό Οικονομικών
4. Πρόεδρο Νομικών της Βουλής

Property protest to greet Christofias

British ex pats frustrated with an inept judicial system in Cyprus are to protest at Alexandra Palace London on May 18 where President Demetris Christofias is due to address a gathering of the Cypriot community.

A statement from the organisers said problems suffered by property victims range from the non issuing of title deeds, structural faults, illegal building and developers extorting immovable property tax and transfer fees.

Many of the victims are currently resident in Cyprus but will be represented at the protest by their offspring, the statement said.

Fronting the protest is Conor O’Dwyer, 38, from Surrey who bought a house off plan in Cyprus in 2005 and has since entered in to a lengthy legal battle.

O’Dwyer said: “Crooked Developers and Lawyers in Cyprus act with impunity. My developer has kept all my money and managed to sell my house to another family despite my contract being logged in the Lands Registry. I have been assaulted by the developers twice; the last was in January 2008 when I spent six days in hospital. Every month my lawyer chases the authorities for a criminal investigation into the reselling of my house and every month it’s the same. It’s stuck at the local level” .

By Jean Christou
(archive article – May 10, 2008)
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008