He critically wounded a special constable by firing a shot with an AK47, then turned his shotgun on another member of the Force, putting his life in immediate danger, but considered the long-term prison sentence imposed to be excessive. The reason for the 41-year-old Elias Mouzo, who tried to overturn his convictions by appealing to the Supreme Court. The appellate court, however, rejected the grounds of appeal raised by Mouzos's lawyer, upholding the first-instance decision for 20 years in prison.
Mitigating factors
The first and main reason for Mouzos's appeal was that the Criminal Court did not attach due importance to the mitigating factors and the personal and family circumstances of the convict, which are not reflected in the sentence imposed. Among other things, the then 38-year-old Elias Mouzos, had brought before the Criminal Court his difficult childhood years, but also the fact that he is the father of two minors, one of whom has a serious health problem. The appellate court was convicted on two charges of attempted murder of two police officers while performing their duties, crimes committed on May 5, 2018 in Ypsonas, Limassol. Offenses for which the Criminal Court sentenced him to 13 years in prison. The indictment also included a number of charges, with Mouzo admitting to three of them, for which he was sentenced to three, two and two years in prison, respectively. Thus, the total imprisonment amounted to 20 years.
Offenses
The attempted murder against the 2 police officers was committed on 5/5/2018 in Ypsonas and the then 38-year-old was in the back seat of a rental car with two others. At one point a patrol car carrying two police officers parked near them and the co-driver got out and moved towards the rental car with the intention of carrying out a routine check. Then Mouzos, as the Criminal Court states in its decision, “without a second thought shoots from a short distance towards him to kill him, and thus destroys the obstacle to his illegal activity”, even having his weapon set to fire against rips. The policeman suffered serious injuries but returned fire. Mouzos continued firing at the injured police officer, but also at the patrol car in which the second police officer was. The latter started the patrol trying to stop the rental vehicle that tried to leave. Mouzos continued firing at the police car and injured the driver. The first policeman was hit on the right side. A bullet injured his right lung and liver. In repression he was transferred to Israel and 40% of his liver was removed. Mouzos was arrested three days later after an episodic chase. After his arrest, he was found to be hiding explosives (SEMTEX) and admitted that in one case he placed a bomb in the house of a person with whom he had a business dispute (11/2017), while in another case (01/2018) he had kidnapped a person and shot at of his home, due to financial disputes related to drug trafficking.
