Cyprus property developers Christoforos Karayiannas, Marios Karayiannas and an employee of their company have been found guilty of causing British home buyer Conor O’Dwyer actual bodily harm as a result of their assault on him in January 2008.
CONOR O’Dwyer was assaulted in 2008 while gathering evidence for what is now a five-year legal battle with property developers Christoforos Karayiannas & Son Ltd of Paralimni.
The brutal attack left him hospitalised for six days while his attackers Christoforos Karayiannas, Marios Karayiannas and an employee of their company were released shortly after from jail.
Earlier today the presiding judge in the Famagusta Court, Evi Antoniou, found all three of the accused guilty of causing Mr O’Dwyer Actual Bodily Harm; they have been remanded in custody pending mitigation and sentencing on Monday. (In the UK, the maximum penalty for Actual Bodily Harm is five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine).
The prosecution team is considering an appeal to have the charges upgraded to Grievous Bodily Harm.
This assault case has been dragging on since January 2009 and has suffered numerous adjournments and delays. O’Dwyer camped outside the Cyprus High Commission in London for 74 days and nights in his quest for justice and has been forced to fly between his home in the UK and Cyprus on more than twenty occasions for this and other court cases. He recently protested outside the Presidential Palace in Nicosia for four days. The costs involved and the strain on his family have been tremendous.
His last trip was on the 29th September but once again the case was adjourned as the judge was not ready to deliver a verdict and one of the accused failed to turn up in Court.
O’Dwyer has two further Court cases that he is pursuing in Cyprus:
- Civil case for breach of contract.
- Private criminal case of fraud in the unlawful selling of his house.
In addition, the authorities in Cyprus are proceeding with a criminal case against Mr O’Dwyer concerning information on his website www.lyingbuilder.com; the next court date is scheduled for late November.
ITV Homes from Hell
The O’Dwyer case will be one of those featured in a new series of the ITV program ‘Homes from Hell’ which is scheduled for transmission in the UK during the summer of 2011.
As a well-known columnist from the Financial Mirror wrote on the 16th June 2010:
“The Conor O’Dwyer case has reached such a level of international notoriety it is difficult to see Cyprus ever living it down.”
By: Nigel Howarth Published: Wednesday 27th October 2010
To see comments from British expats read this article in the Cyprus Property News
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