In five years in prison condemned by the Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki a 20-year-old-girl today where together with a minor they set fire and burned down their girlfriend’s house for reasons of love jealousy.

According to thestival.gr, the defendant was found guilty of aiding and abetting arson, which resulted in a danger to a person, while no mitigating factor was found. The court decided that the appeal should have a suspensive nature. For the same case and as the man who set fire to the apartment to avenge the victim, another young girl who, at the time, had not turned 18 years old, is also accused and referred to a juvenile court.

What happened on July 6, 2021

The unimaginable incident occurred in the early hours of July 6, 2021, in Pefkohori, Halkidiki. The defendants, together with the victim and the rest of their group, had gone out for evening entertainment and after consuming quantities of alcohol, at some point they were misunderstood because they understood that the 17-year-old’s partner showed romantic interest in the victim.

The victim left on the motorcycle of her 17-year-old boyfriend, with the accused believing that he would take her to her house, however the two of them ended up at the young man’s apartment. The two young women went to the house where the victim lived with her family and when they knocked on the door and no one opened it, they then went to a nearby convenience store where they bought two bottles of pure alcohol, with their movements recorded by her security cameras business.

The two young women with “frontal” the 17-year-old who felt betrayed by her friend and her partner, returned to the victim’s home and managed to set it on fire, causing it to burn completely until the Fire Department arrived. The victim’s aunt and her minor sister, who was only 9 years old at the time, were in immediate danger from the unimaginable event, as they noticed smoke entering their upstairs apartment while they were sleeping.

“I grabbed my niece and tried to go out on the balcony but I couldn’t see anything from the smoke. We couldn’t get out of the main entrance because there were flames and we couldn’t see anything. The first floor was burning. A neighbor was shouting “fire”. We managed and got out from the back, jumped from the balcony and ended up on the street to escape,” the woman said.

“I was drunk, I fell asleep on the sofa”

The victim, who is now 20 years old, stated in her testimony in court that at the time her house was burning, she was sleeping. “I was drunk, we talked a bit, had a cigarette and I fell asleep on the sofa. I opened my eyes in the morning and saw policemen. The house is my father’s, it has two floors. My sister, who was 9 years old, and my aunt were sleeping upstairs,” he said.

“When I got into the patrol car they told me there was a fire in the house. I imagined that they would burn some furniture, I didn’t know what had happened. The mines from the sports, clothes, things of value were burned. I heard that the accused set the fire with another one because I slept in the child’s house. They all disappeared the next day,” he noted.

As he later said, “my overnight there was because I was drunk and I fell asleep at his house. I was very drunk. They hadn’t told me that he was looking at me on the beach. I went there and fell asleep in half an hour, we didn’t do anything else. I don’t remember if the accused sent me messages when I was there, I was lost. When I woke up, I found messages on my cell phone. “Don’t make the mistake and get out,” said one, and I remember that they were sending me something downright insulting. “I will break your house, everything you have and don’t have”, they wrote.

The apology

In her apology, the accused admitted her involvement in the arson, as she claimed that she had no active role and that all she did was to accompany the minor to the mini market and give her the lighter, but to light a cigarette and not to burn it home.

“When we got home, he was knocking on the door, the window, answering phones. He wanted to make a fuss, he didn’t open at all. He told me to go to the mini market. He entered the store and started looking, he told the employee that he wanted alcohol. We spend a lot of time on alcohol and put in juice and soda because we didn’t have money to buy alcohol. The distance from the house was about 500-600 meters. He didn’t talk to me on the street, it was as if I didn’t exist. She was a drug and alcohol wreck. We got to the girl’s house, we knew she lived there,” he said.

And he continued: “I was shouting, begging her, I asked her “why are you jumping the bars” and she replied “you’ll see what I’ll do”. He climbed onto the tiles and entered, holding two bottles of alcohol. I stayed down and cried. As soon as we left the mini market he asked me for a lighter to light a cigarette and he kept it. “Now I’m going to burn it for her”, he told me and went inside. I was shouting “don’t do anything, get down”. I’d been drinking, I’d done coke, I didn’t understand,” he claimed, adding: “It was clearly out of romantic jealousy, I wasn’t in a relationship.”

In her statement, the defendant apologized to the court and the victim’s father. “It’s my fault, unfortunately, because I gave her the lighter,” he said.