A man who says his girlfriend slipped and fell to her death in coastal Paphos over the weekend has been arrested on premeditated charges, after a post mortem showed injuries inconsistent with a free fall.
Paphos police on Sunday arrested a 30-year-old man originally from Ukraine in connection with the death of his girlfriend, 28-year-old Lesia Bykova, after reports said he initially told investigators that she accidentally fell to her death while trying to take a selfie at the top of a cliff near Aphrodite’s Rock.
Bykova, described as a Ukrainian national and permanent resident in the Republic of Cyprus, was found dead at the bottom of the cliff, after authorities were alerted to an accidental free fall from a height of 100 meters at the scenic but rugged location.
Police said the suspect, who holds a Greek passport and also resides permanently in Cyprus, was arrested on a court warrant after a post mortem conducted by state forensic pathologists showed Bykova had been sexually molested.
Bykova also had visible neck injuries described as inconsistent with a free fall, media reports said.
According to Paphos police official Michalis Nicolaou, the case is being investigated as premeditated murder.
Police did not say whether a motive was known at the time of the arrest.
