A British man who was acquitted in the death of 18-year-old talented Welsh ice hockey player Jonathan Hiles who fell off a stage, hitting his head on the dance floor while on holiday with friends on the island of Zante in 2007, said police beat him into confessing he was responsible.
Andrew Symeou, 25, was charged with manslaughter he absolved by a court in 2011. Symeou was holidaying on the island with friends from Enfield – including Greek-Cypriot Christopher Kyriacou, who testified at the Hiles’ inquest in Cardiff, the York Press reported.
Coroner Mary Hassell read aloud a police statement by Kyriacou, which had been signed four days after Hiles was injured before dying in a hospital. It said his friend Symeou “panicked” and fled the nightclub after hitting Hiles following a row over a girl.
But the witness, who was 18 at the time of the interview, told the court that the Greek police’s account was “100% false” and that he was actually beaten by Greek police before being forced to change his witness statement.
He stated, “First they put me in a completely dark room for around 30 minutes. Then they turned the lights on and around six other officers filed into the room. “I was very scared and intimidated. They kept asking me ‘what happened?’ and I told them I didn’t know. One officer went ballistic and grabbed me by the neck. I was then hit on the face and punched on the head.
“My thinking was ‘I am just going to have to do what they want me to do’. I needed to get out of the police station for the safety of my own life. I did not know what was going to happen to me.” The paper did not report on what the police said in response to the charge.
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