The trauma in femoral artery pointed out as the cause of the death of 19-year-old Alkis Kampanos by medical examiner Grigoris Leon who testified today before the Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki, as a technical advisor to the 10th accused, who allegedly – according to the case file – held the sickle.

The witness noted that he compiled it forensic opinion taking into account the findings of the medical examiner Leda Kovatsis who performed the autopsy and added that he “concurs with her”, considering, however, that from the report it appears that the key blow was the one in femoral artery. According to Mrs. Kovatsis, the death of the unfortunate young man came from a series of injuries.

“There was no technical consultant at the morgue, so the findings are incontrovertible”, he said and added that his opinion is based on the report as – as he said – although useful “with photographs there are limitations”.

Mr. Leon testified that the “major blunt, fatal wound is what is described in the femoral artery, a blunt-lipped wound. Both the report and the photos show that we had profuse bleeding. The fact that the child resulted from this trauma is also evident from other findings”, he said and added that the fact that mainly the myocardium and then the lungs were excellent show that “the key blow that definitely brought death is what caused rupture of the femur”.

“Whoever has hit the child on the right thigh has led to his death,” he said at another point in his testimony.

“Dry the child of blood,” he characteristically said and emphasized that he could not live after that.

Referring to the other injuries, he pointed out the seriousness of the brain injuries but estimated that he did not receive blows from crowbars or clubs.

“There is no doubt that the child has received blows to the head and from the fissured fractures we understand that they were strong. The object was not solid, it was not an iron or a club because we have no imprint. We don’t see bruises or open wounds. There is no way we can hit a person with a bat and the protection of a hood will block the mark,” he said.

Citing witness statementsn, Mr. Leon said that Alkis “until the end neurologically reacts, understands and indicates the femur. We have no loss of neurological response but those who arrive at the scene are impressed by the amount of blood,” testified the witness.

Asked if all the wounds on the unfortunate young man’s body adversely affect each other, he admitted that “yes, but there is one that isi vital and deadly”. Referring to the wounds on the left leg he said that they are not capable of causing death.

“I think that in her report Ms. Kovatsi clearly writes the mechanism of death and describes the injuries in detail. Photos certainly have a value, but for me more important is the exposure. The description is very detailed,” he said.

The sickle and the wound to his friend Alkis

The witness testified that he was asked to assess which of the wounds on all three victims of the attack were consistent with a blow from a sickle, which he commented was a nysson and cutting instrument and had a characteristic curve and blade. He even said that a feature of the sickle is that it makes cuts while a knife “goes in and out more easily”.

“It’s no match for the fatal wound as it can’t make a centimeter incision. It is forbidden because it makes an uneven course. We’re not even talking about that object in this trauma,” he added of the scythe and Moose.

He emphasized, however, that the wound on the buttock of Alki’s friend, who managed to escape, is most likely caused by this weapon as it is a more “quite significant cut and such wounds are made by the sickle”.

Defensive injuries

In response to the prosecutor’s questions, Mr. Leon said that all the injuries could be potentially dangerous and then explained why he believes that he was not hit on the head by a stick or a crowbar.

Commenting on the defensive wounds on the hands of the unfortunate Alkis, he said that if he had received a blow from the same weapons on the head, he should have corresponding impressions, since he put them on to protect himself.

“We do not dispute that the child received multiple injuries but not from these bruisers,” he stressed.

To the prosecutor’s question about “if one of the defendants says that one of the others hit Alkis with a sickle, he will be lying”, he answered “yes”.

Fire against the coroners who testify in court as technical advisors launched the lawyer of the Civil Education, Alexis Kougias, in his statements before the start of today’s hearing.

At the beginning of today’s trial, the defense counsel for the 2nd defendant commented on threatening phone calls and the insults received by the medical examiner Katerina Apostolidou, who testified as a technical advisor/witness for the defense of the same defendant.

The lawyer emphasized that the coroner has taken legal action while he commented that “she was ridiculed by the civil lawsuit, she was abused by the audience as a result of which she received these threats” while she even expressed complaints “about the questioning she received from the prosecutor”.

The public prosecutor even replied that “if the counterargument is considered an attack, then I don’t want to say anything else. If someone wants to make an appeal, let him do it without making a big deal out of it.”