“The accused had direct malice. No possibility, no nothing. He had an intent to kill Caroline,” said the prosecutor for the Joint Jury Court of Appeal, who with the accused Babis Anagnostopoulos absent who waived the appeal, tries the crime in the second degree in Glyka Nera.

The prosecutor pleaded guilty to the pilot’s murder of his 20-year-old wife and the killing of their dog in May 2021, according to the charge that in the first degree he was sentenced to life imprisonment and an additional 11.5 years.

The defendant himself is absent from the bench, as last June during the trial before the MoE, he resigned his appeal, while the defense attorneys appointed by him also resigned. The court has proceeded with ex officio appointment of advocates, which the accused did not accept, in his document. However, by the court’s decision, the trial continued with the lawyers who were instructed to appear in defense of Babis Anagnostopoulos.

In his speech, the prosecutor emphasized that the court must study the elements of the accused’s personality and the characteristics of the crime, which, as he said, concerns revenge when the victim questioned him, and come to the conviction of Anagnostopoulos:

“He didn’t hesitate to put the baby next to his dead mother. He didn’t hesitate to take it to her funeral. She did not hesitate to ask her mother for 2,000 euros for the coffin! If this is not the definition of selfishness, manipulative behavior and narcissism then what is? He punished Caroline for daring to go against God’s will. Which God? By himself!” said the prosecuting official, asking the appellants to disregard what the pilot has claimed about mental impetuousness. Referring to the killing of the puppy and the defendant’s entire post-crime staging to appear as robbery after murder, the prosecutor said of the defendant:

“He thought he had the ability and the wit to make fun of the rest.”

Trying to shed light on the characteristics of the couple’s relationship, the prosecutor spoke of a “codependent relationship”, where the defendant took the initiative: “Caroline was a girl full of life who was dazzled by the defendant. He brought her pizzas by helicopter to school, he was handsome, the girl was 15-16 at the time.. she was dazzled. And then a codependent relationship was created. Caroline went so far as to marry abroad three days after coming of age. Were these decisions on Caroline’s initiative?’ he said.

In his admonition, the public prosecutor also referred to the waiver of appeal declared by the defendant. The choice of Anagnostopoulos to resign from the ongoing process was negatively commented by the MOE prosecutor, who estimated that the goal of the 35-year-old pilot was to prevent specific negative information about him from coming to the attention of the court.

“The resignation is surprising”, the prosecutor’s office said. “That must mean something. The court must take into account the moment he did it, while the trial had started… If you remember, he declared this resignation with the risk of publication of a letter sent by the accused and addressed to the victim’s mother. We never read the letter. Did he want to hide the exploration of some dark elements of his character?’ stressed the prosecutor referring to the testimony of the psychiatrist consultant of the victim’s family.

Psychiatrist Alkistis Igoumenaki in her testimony regarding the defendant’s personality, he had referred to “narcissistic disorder and manipulative personality”, while he had referred to the letter that Anagnostopoulos had sent to the victim’s mother after his conviction.