“My kid can’t get a degree. He left them in the middle…” Melina Kakoulidou, mother of the deceased Alkis, burst out with these words, against the defendant, while he was apologizing, before the Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki, for the murder case of her 19-year-old son.

This reaction came at a time when the 6th of the 12 defendants was referring to his studies, saying that he is continuing them in prison. The mother’s words were applauded by relatives and friends of the family watching the trial.

Today, the 29th day of the hearing, began with the apology of the specific accused, who initially expressed his condolences to the family of Alkis, apologizing for being at the scene of the crime.

“I took a metal pipe, just in case”

He, aged 24 and a passenger in the second of the three cars, denied taking part in the incident, saying he took a metal pipe but did not approach the scene of the attack because he was afraid. “I thought we were going to hunt because there was a fan incident in Oreokastro. “I took an iron pipe to protect myself, just in case anything goes wrong,” he said.

Describing the disputed event in time, the 24-year-old noted the following: “The first car stopped and we stopped too. Three people got out of the first vehicle and at that time the third vehicle that turned onto Gazi Street passes us. Three got out of the last vehicle. The 2nd defendant had made a point for us not to go down, I believe to first establish if they are followers of ‘Aris. The commotion started, I didn’t understand what happened at first. I understood the 2nd accused giving a knife to one of the children who went to jump the wall. After a few seconds, we also got out of our own car.”

Who did I see on the steps?

Referring to his involvement in the trial, he apologized for taking the pipe from the trunk, took 2-3 steps and spontaneously turned back, without approaching. As he said, he was scared when he saw some people approaching from Plastira Street holding axes and chairs. “I got scared, I threw the pipe in the trunk and waited in the car,” he said of his own movements, adding that he saw on the steps of the building (crime scene) the 7th accused, further back the 9th, and the 2nd, who he stood out because of his body type.

“She got fat”

Asked what everyone was doing at that point, they were unable to answer, saying they were all dressed in black. “I heard voices, the wood, it was a disaster […] All I cared about was leaving,” he apologized. He confirmed, in court, that during their escape from the scene and while they were in the car, one of his co-accused mentioned that “it got rough, some child was hit a lot”, because they saw blood.

“At that moment I panicked” he said referring to his reaction, while to the question “when did he learn about the death of Alkis” he answered “the next morning” and then he said: “I lost the ground under my feet”, “I wanted to say that first to my parents, I didn’t know how to tell them.”

The trial was adjourned and, when the bench resumes, the 7th defendant in a row will take the stand to plead guilty.