Cyprus-Forum.com

[Markos]

From:
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.ph ... 8&cat_id=1

Taxi driver attacked by suspected British soldiers

By John Leonidou

POLICE are on the lookout for two British men who attacked a taxi driver in the Limassol resort of Yermasoyia in the early hours of yesterday.

According to taxi driver Demetris Panayi, 58, the two British men, suspected to be soldiers not permanently based on the island, were picked in Yermasoyia and asked Panayi to drive them back to Paramali, where they were staying.

One of the men then handed Panayi a £5 note and $5 bill but the 58-year-old informed them that it wasn’t enough and stopped the car.

The men said it was all the money they had, so he told them to get out of the car. At that point, one of the British men allegedly grabbed Panayi by the throat and gripped him in a headlock, while the other began punching him in the head.

“When I stopped the car, one of the men grabbed me by the neck and the other began punching me,” the driver told reporters. “The grip was so tight that I thought I broke my jaw.”

They then forced him out of the car and sped off in it car.

Their escape, however, was cut short, explained Panayi, who saw the car crash into some trees just a few yards after they set off.

Panayi then reported the incident to police in Yermasoyia. Efforts were yesterday under way to find the culprits with assistance from SBA police.

The taxi driver was treated at Limassol General Hospital for minor injuries before being released shortly afterwards.

Investigators are set to look into traffic camera footage that is believed to have recorded the incident.

According to police sources, some leads yesterday surfaced with regards to the identity of one of the culprits.

[dms007]

They arrested them today. The soldiers were on leave from either Iraq or Afghanistan. I guess they get away with that sort of behaviour there and it slipped their minds that they had returned to civilisation.

How can someone be so ignorant to write comments like this.

They "returned to civilisation" he says.
Civilisation is everywhere, just becasue they are in Iraq or Afghanistan does not mean they can do whatever they want.
They just cannot pull up and beat a civilian any part of the world.

You have to realise that being in Iraq or Afghanistan does not give them freedom to beat up whoever they like.

[jambo]

I have no love for the taxi drivers...
That sentence was me being diplomatic.

[joanna]

Soldiers do a lot of this and it just gets swept under the carpet. Im not going to tarnish all with the same brush but i can understand that they loose their rags a lot due to all the things they see when on postings. I cannot understand however how (after all the training that they have) they let these things affect them and how after all the warnings they have to behave in a civilised manner that they still manage to do such stupid things and completely let their side down. I agree tha tthe taxi driver may have taken the piss as far as price was concerned but i hardly call that a reason to beat the crap out of someone. I doubt they will be disciplined appropriately, but hope they are, so that it serve as a warning to all other squaddies or in general others representing their country

[Markos]

UK Marines charged with assault
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6495005.stm

Soldiers on destress leave in Cyprus ‘beat up taxi driver’
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 567309.ece

[aidy]

They arrested them today. The soldiers were on leave from either Iraq or Afghanistan. I guess they get away with that sort of behaviour there and it slipped their minds that they had returned to civilisation.

How can someone be so ignorant to write comments like this.

They "returned to civilisation" he says.
Civilisation is everywhere, just becasue they are in Iraq or Afghanistan does not mean they can do whatever they want.
They just cannot pull up and beat a civilian any part of the world.

You have to realise that being in Iraq or Afghanistan does not give them freedom to beat up whoever they like.

OMG, I can't believe i have just read this.

not defending their behavior ( we don't know what really happened in the taxi)

but imagine living day after day, daring to sleep at night because you are getting shot at or bombed. for a period of i dunno, 6 months. then going back to carrying on your life with no side effects.. NO CHANCE, GET REAL.

not saying they can do what they want but i can't believe you seem to think it is that easy. these guys ARE traumatised by what they have to do and see.

[sweetie pie]

They arrested them today. The soldiers were on leave from either Iraq or Afghanistan. I guess they get away with that sort of behaviour there and it slipped their minds that they had returned to civilisation.

How can someone be so ignorant to write comments like this.

They "returned to civilisation" he says.
Civilisation is everywhere, just becasue they are in Iraq or Afghanistan does not mean they can do whatever they want.
They just cannot pull up and beat a civilian any part of the world.

You have to realise that being in Iraq or Afghanistan does not give them freedom to beat up whoever they like.

OMG, I can't believe i have just read this.


not defending their behavior ( we don't know what really happened in the taxi)

but imagine living day after day, daring to sleep at night because you are getting shot at or bombed. for a period of i dunno, 6 months. then going back to carrying on your life with no side effects.. NO CHANCE, GET REAL.

not saying they can do what they want but i can't believe you seem to think it is that easy. these guys ARE traumatised by what they have to do and see.

They may be traumatised and stressed BUT they left the base without permission and whatever they have suffered they had no right to beat up a taxi driver (if thats what they did) No excuse whatsover.

However the soldiers don't 'do this all the time' as one poster put it. And it is never 'swept under the carpet' as the same poster maintains. Any soldier who commits an offence is punished either by the Forces or by the Cypriot courts.

[jambo]

Any soldier who commits an offence is punished either by the Forces or by the Cypriot courts.

I wish i could say the same about the robbing taxi drivers..

[Dadalushe]

[not defending their behavior ( we don't know what really happened in the taxi)

but imagine living day after day, daring to sleep at night because you are getting shot at or bombed. for a period of i dunno, 6 months. then going back to carrying on your life with no side effects.. NO CHANCE, GET REAL.

not saying they can do what they want but i can't believe you seem to think it is that easy. these guys ARE traumatised by what they have to do and see.

Nobody forced them to join the army. If you become a soldier you have to expect to go to war, no matter where it is. What they have to see and do cannot be used as an excuse for this sort of behaviour

[dms007]

these guys ARE traumatised by what they have to do and see.

If that is the case, why are these men not in leashes?
why do they let them out, when they are sure to cause trouble.

if even you know so much about them, how can the people who are incharge of them or monitor them fail to see that they are traumatised and that they are bound to cause trouble some time?