The 30-year-old Bulgarian father of two boys, aged 8 and 10, found dead in his partner’s car on Sunday afternoon, appeared before Dhekelia Court shortly after 12:30pm on Thursday, charged with two counts of causing death by a reckless and careless act.
The boys had been left unsupervised after their father left for work in Limassol on Sunday morning, followed shortly after by his 38-year-old partner. She was initially arrested but released unconditionally yesterday. Investigators from the British Sovereign Base Areas’ Criminal Investigation Department (CID) decided to bring only the father before court, since he is the children’s legal guardian.
Motion-activated CCTV footage shows the boys playing in the yard before continuing their game in the car, where they remained for more than three hours. They appear to have entered through an open rear door of the vehicle, parked in the open area of the block of flats where they lived.
Philenews reported yesterday that expert examinations found a fault in that door, which remained unlocked despite the car having been locked. The boys then appear to have become trapped after the child safety lock activated.
The boys are believed to have entered the car around midday on Sunday and were found unconscious in the back seat by their father’s partner after 5:30pm the same day. Asphyxiation remains the leading theory as to the cause of death, though the Bases are keeping this open at this stage, pending results of tests on samples taken from the boys by Greek forensic pathologist Manolis Sakelliades.
The two children had arrived in Cyprus in mid-May, accompanied by relatives, for a holiday with their father, who works in Limassol. The cost of transporting their bodies back to Bulgaria will be covered by the state, a government source said yesterday.
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