Supreme court rejects Theofanous retrial bid

The supreme court on Thursday ruled against an application for a re-trial filed by convicted lifer Theodoros (Doros) Theofanous. Theofanous, alias ‘the hairdresser’, filed a motion for a re-trial, arguing that material new evidence had come up following his conviction. According to a statement by the attorney-general’s office, this was the first instance heard by the supreme court since the coming into force of a new law permitting the re-trying of cases when new evidence comes to light. In October 2012 Theofanous was found guilty of the 2011 premeditated murder of his pregnant partner Yulia Oporok, and the manslaughter of Oporok’s three-year old daughter. The supreme court had upheld the conviction in April 2015. Theofanous later sought recourse with the supreme court, seeking a re-trial, claiming that new facts had emerged that questioned the initial conviction. He cited the fact that one of the prosecution witnesses during the initial criminal trial had in June 2020 recanted a previous sworn statement. According to Theofanous, this person now stated that his testimony before the court had been false and that he was not at the scene of the crime. Theofanous also cited statements by third parties claiming that another prosecution witness – Antonis Prokopiou Kitas, a convicted rapist and murderer – apparently ‘admitted’ that Theofanous was not the perpetrator of the crime. All this, his lawyers argued, was sufficient to overturn the evidentiary basis of the conviction. Theofanous therefore asked for a re-trial of his case or, due to the length of time he has already served, an outright acquittal. The supreme court rejected his motion. In delivering its judgment, the court said Theofanous had presented no new material facts that would warrant a re-trial. Witnesses recanting or changing their testimony did not count as such. What may have constituted new material evidence, said the court, would be facts that existed during the initial trial but did not emerge at the time, or material facts emerging after the trial. Such examples would include evidence pointing to a different perpetrator, the emergence of a material eyewitness, or the discovery of genetic material pertaining to the case. Theofanous presented no such material, the court said. As such, he will serve out his sentence at the central prisons. In September 2024, Theofanous escaped police custody while visiting his father’s home in Choletria, Paphos. Following the fiasco, President Nikos Christodoulides fired the chief of police, the deputy chief of police and acting director of the central prisons.