The therapeutic measure of hospitalization in a special department Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki for a period of five years, the Criminal Court decided for 52 years old who in July 2022 killed his 79-year-old mother, in the apartment where they lived in Neapoli, Thessaloniki.

The Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki formally accepted that he committed the murder, but ruled that due to a “serious mental disorder” he could not perceive the injustice of his act.

The judicial judgment on the incapacity for imputation (received by a majority of 5-2) relied on psychiatric expert reports that were presented and attest to his chronic mental illness.

According to the indictment, the elderly woman was found dead, in a pool of blood, in the bathtub of the house, by her eldest son. According to the forensic findings, she had fatal stab wounds to her neck, while the crime is estimated to have taken place at least five 24 hours before she was found.

“My brother came back with a bag of groceries. He sat down and ate a cold sandwich,” said the 55-year-old brother of the attacker, describing what happened after he found his mother dead.

When the 52-year-old was asked to apologize in court, he said he did not remember much. “I did it to free myself from my mother and go to work. I can’t say what I did, it’s beyond my strength,” he said and mentioned that at that time he had stopped the treatment he was following, thinking he would get better. “But I wanted to do more and I did,” he noted, stressing that all he wishes is to stay “close to the doctors.”

He himself was recently hospitalized at the Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki, where he will eventually return with the court decision.