AS many as 17 police officers in Cyprus are facing disciplinary action for dereliction of duty and racism in the cases of several murdered women and two children.
The Island discovered that a serial killer was on the rampage after a group of bikers on a road trip in April 2019 in rural Nicosia saw an abandoned mineshaft and discovered a decomposed body.
Subsequent search revealed a total of seven bodies including five women and two young girls who were all foreign nationals.
The first body was of 38-year-old Filipina Marry Rose Tiburcio, who was reported missing along with her daughter, 6-year-old Sierra Graze Seucalliuc. Her body was tossed into a nearby lake.
Later, other Filipino bodies were found–including the remains of 28-year-old Αrian Palanas Lozano and Marry Rose, besides 30-year-old Maricar Valdez Arquiola in a suitcase at a lake area near the mineshaft.
Two more bodies were found in suitcases in the same red lake including Romanian mother Livia Florentina Bunea (36) and her 8-year-old daughter Elena Natalia Bunea.
All six victims died of strangulation, while the body parts of a 30-year-old Nepalese woman named Asmita Khadka Bista—who suffered strangulation and head trauma– were found in a remote pit on a military firing range also in rural Nicosia.
A former husband of one of the adult victims – and father of the youngest victim – was initially arrested but later released during his remand, after phone evidence quickly pointed to another suspect.
Local media reported about police officers who routinely dismissed concerns about the missing women or even failed to pursue clues about a suspect, who later pleaded guilty to seven counts of murder.
The convicted serial killer Nikos Metaxas is presently serving multiple life sentences for the murders.
The case came to light when a number of women from the Philippines were reported to be missing and Orestis admitted to police he “had a thing” for Filipino women.
Soon more Filipinas living or working in Cyprus came forward after his arrest and stated that they were persistently approached physically or online by Metaxas.
The Cyprus government had apologized to the victims’ families. A special probe last year identified two dozen officers allegedly involved in dereliction of duty, racism, and other types of behavior.
