He “broke” the life sentence which had been imposed on her in the first instance, the 43-year-old widow of the 62-year-old cardiologist Christodoulos Kalantzakis.

Yesterday Wednesday, the appellate court found her guilty by majority vote on the charge of complicity in homicide. The sentence imposed on her is 15 years in prison.

The 42-year-old ex-lover and natural perpetrator of the cold-blooded murder of the cardiologist was unanimously found guilty of sane manslaughter and again sentenced to life in prison.

It is recalled that the head prosecutor of the Mixed Court of Appeal of Eastern Crete in Heraklion, earlier suggested the guilt of the 43-year-old widow and her 42-year-old Bulgarian ex-lover.

In her statement, the Prosecutor pointed out that the moral authorship which – based on the indictment – is attributed to the cardiologist’s widow is difficult to prove as a crime because “always the moral perpetrator moves in the background and never, ever in the foreground”.

At the same time, he underlined that in moral authorship a crucial element is motivation.
And the 43-year-old defendant may vehemently deny everything attributed to her, however, always according to the Prosecutor, the cardiologist’s wife was the one who wanted her husband’s extermination and “being emotionally and financially motivated”, she was the one who caused to her lover the decision to murder him!

“These motives were not his, but hers,” he said characteristically.

“Why wasn’t she breaking up with him?” continued the prosecutor, stating that “the doctor was pretty much on board with that.” At her discretion the woman could divorce, however he would not have the financial support he enjoyed and this he could not deny”

The timeline of the murder

It was 9 in the morning on October 7, 2017 when Christodoulos Kalantzakis was traveling in his car from Sitia to Makris Gyalos in order to go to the clinic he maintains in the area to examine his patients.

When the well-known cardiologist arrived at the location of Pilalimatas in Koutsouras, the then 37-year-old (policeman by profession) was waiting for him and opened fire with a hunting rifle at the car.

Christodoulos Kalantzakis got out of the vehicle shouting for help with the attacker shooting him four times – at least –.

One bullet hit the doctor in the head and the other three in the back.

“Both defendants lie with the ease of the air they breathe. You don’t leave such a crime to chance, the police officer planned it in every detail. By himself; no matter how cruel he is, he is not stupid,” the Prosecutor said at another point.

Catapult was the Prosecutor and in what had to do with the claims of the 42-year-old ex-policeman (with distinctions and awards from the government of his country), who repeated in his apology that the cardiologist’s wife knew nothing about his intentions and that the purpose was to “explain” to the cardiologist, who – according to the accused – when he found out about his relationship with his wife “threatened him and his minor child”.

“Is it possible for a hardened police officer, who had to deal with ruthless and serious criminals in his career, to be afraid of a middle-aged cardiologist from Sitia?” asked the Prosecutor.

She pointed out that the Bulgarian “was unlucky” that he was seen on the fateful day by the hunters – eyewitnesses. “We are dealing with a cold-blooded murder, with a cartel, a systematic plan, with everything,” he stressed.

For a right and fair decision both at the level of guilt and at the level of the imposed penalty, one of the defense lawyers of the 43-year-old widow, Mr. Dionysis Verras, who earlier fought with his admonition for the conversion of the charge of moral turpitude, spoke in synergy, which changed the sentencing framework.

As he said, the legal characterization that was finally given, is the one that should have been and he considers, as he said, that this whole sad event now ends in a way that no one can feel that they are wronged.

He expressed his appreciation that very soon his client will be out of prison, stressing that at this moment she has a debt and a social responsibility to raise her child in the best possible way in order to heal the wounds caused by the incident we tried”.

The other defense lawyer of the 43-year-old, Mr. Manolis Anastasakis, also expressed his satisfaction with the decision of the appellate court, who stated that with his verdict the Mixed Court of Appeal of Eastern Crete corrected the legal error of the first instance decision