A 60-year-old man who not only killed his bedridden and blind mother because he was “tired of looking after her” but also repeatedly raped her while she was alive has been sentenced to life in prison and an additional 21 years, as forensic findings in old woman’s body.

The heinous crime was revealed last July, in Xirohori, Thessaloniki, when the brother of the accused found the 84-year-old dead inside the house where she lived with her accused son.

The Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki, before which the 60-year-old was referred to be tried, found him guilty of murder with intent, rape, bodily harm to a weak person, domestic bodily harm and sexual acts between relatives, without recognizing any mitigating circumstances.

Evaluating the evidentiary material of the case file and the witness statements, the district attorney Argiri Kotina stated that the accused practiced domestic violence, brutally beating his brother and mother. The latter was “raped until her death” even though she had become blind and disabled. “He had her as a pet,” the public prosecutor pointed out during her hearing.

According to the case file, the brutal crime took place when the 84-year-old woman called him to help her. Then he got angry and killed her. “He strangled her, hit her with a bottle, stepped on her,” the prosecutor emphasized, describing the manner of the murder. In fact, the next day, the perpetrator hurried to bury her without the involvement of a funeral home, looking for a priest from the neighboring settlement, in an attempt to cover up his crime. He even threatened his brother that he will have the same fate as their mother if he reported him to the police.

People close to the two brothers eventually informed the police and the 60-year-old was arrested, confessing to his act, which he justified by saying “I was tired of taking care of her, I couldn’t take it anymore”. From the forensic examination that followed, it emerged that the unfortunate elderly woman bore signs of sexual abuse which were dated to a short time before her murder.

In his plea, the defendant, with a history of mental illness and alcohol dependence, admitted killing his mother but denied having sex with her. “I was drinking alcohol, I didn’t have a job. I was in a miserable state. I didn’t understand how the damage happened. My mother did not want to go to the institution. She kept calling me to feed her. I took care of her, I ran her to the hospitals. My brother wasn’t helping. I’m sorry for what happened, I apologize. The next day I realized what I had done,” he said and claimed he was under the influence of alcohol.

However, he did not convince the judges, regular and jury, who found him guilty of all the acts attributed to him, accepting the previous prosecution proposal. After the court’s verdict, the 60-year-old returned to prison.