An ITV crew was in Cyprus this week to record a segment for prime-time television show ‘Homes From Hell’ which investigates claims of “foreign retreats which started off as dreams and turned into nightmares”.
BRITISH national Conor O’Dwyer worked with the TV crew for two full days on Sunday and Monday as it documented the lengthy legal battle he has been involved in with a Paralimni-based developer since 2005.
“The programme mainly focused on the fact that the contract to my property is currently in the Land Registry, my money is in the developer’s bank, while someone else is living in my house,” said O’Dwyer.
His legal battle began five years ago after he signed a property deal with Karayiannas property developer in Frenaros for the cost of £163,000.
O’Dwyer claims that after he purchased the house it was then resold without his knowledge by the developers.
Additionally, he says that soon after he purchased the house, the developers went back on their promise that an empty lot to the side of his property would not be built on. The developer, however, argued in court that this was never stated in the contract and they had already committed to building another property.
ITV also recorded O’Dwyer staging a one- man camping protest outside the Presidential Palace, which began on Monday and is set to and today, intended to highlight a criminal case being brought against him by the state for publishing his story online.
O’Dwyer is set to appear before a Paralimni court as a defendant on November 23 accused of publishing slanderous video footage of his developers on his website.
“The reason for this demonstration is to highlight what some Cypriot local developers are doing to foreign investors and how the state is letting them get away with it,” said O’Dwyer.
Additionally, Attorney General Petros Clerides has filed an appeal against a court decision regarding the assault of O’Dwyer by his developers.
Paralimni court recently sentenced 55-year old Christoforos Karayiannas and his son Marios, 35, to a 10-month suspended jail term for assaulting O’Dwyer in 2008.
A third man was also found guilty of assault and was ordered to pay a €3,000 fine.
The court found the men guilty of causing actual bodily harm (ABH) but Clerides has appealed for a more serious sentence of grievous bodily harm (GBH), which carries a maximum of seven years.
During the trial, the court heard how the three men rammed into O’Dwyer’s car in Frenaros village and then beat him, resulting in him being hospitalised for a week.
By: Paul Malaos Published: Friday 12th November 2010
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