By Elena Galari

The judges of the Mixed Jury Court of Athens unanimously declared the 50-year-old builder guilty, who confessed that on May 16, 2024 he murdered his ex-wife in Menidi, sentencing him to life imprisonment and an additional five years.

The district attorney was also in favor of the defendant’s guilt.

“From the evidentiary process and the documents, it appears that the perpetrator was completely lucid when he committed the act. They got married when the deceased was very young and the accused began to show possessive behavior towards her, to subject her to manual actions, he was aggressive. He was not affected by alcohol to the extent of not being charged,” said the public prosecutor’s office and added:

“In the last period before the murder, the accused had seen the pictures of the victim on the Internet with another man. This made him make the decision in complete clarity to kill her. So he set up an ambush outside the family home when the victim was leaving for work. After a short conversation, he took out a knife and managed to stab her multiple times in the neck, abdomen and legs. This was the cause of death. Although the defendant says today that he did not understand how he reached this result, he should not be believed. There was no influence from alcohol or sudden emotional overstimulation,” he said.

In his apology, the accused appeared remorseful for his act and tearfully apologized to his children.

“I apologize profusely to my children. I feel like I’ve died. I wanted him to go back. It doesn’t exist. I loved her very much my wife, my children, the whole world envied us. I don’t know how this happened. I only want my children to be well. I wasn’t jealous at all when I saw her with someone else… she wanted to leave let her go with whoever she wants. But not for my child to have. To sleep on my mattress, to go in the car we bought together…” said the defendant and referred to the day of the murder:

“I took the knife for protection. It never crossed my mind to kill her. I had been drinking beers since the evening. I slept, woke up and was drinking coffee with tsipouro. When I approached her I told her to call the other person to talk here. I didn’t want to go up and she refused. I didn’t know what to do.
I never wanted to kill her.”

Q: Even though she put her hands in front of her to protect herself you continued to stab her

Narrator: I don’t remember how I killed my wife. After two days I realized what I did. I was confused. I went to the hotel… I went to the construction site… I didn’t understand anything, I didn’t feel, I didn’t understand what I had done…

I have died like a man. Nothing fixes this. A big apology to everyone. What else can I say, I don’t believe that I have done this thing to kill my wife… How did this thing happen, how did the devil enter our house…”

The couple’s daughter also testified in court.

“We always had problems at home, my father was violent, he beat her all the time,” the victim’s daughter emphasized.

My dad was violent towards mom. He kept beating her. All my childhood I remember there being such incidents. He was jealous and made excuses. I was the kid who knew at school that my dad beats my mom. She was taking us to school and she had scratches on her neck. He was telling her ‘I’m going to kill you, we’re going to be together in life or death.’ That was his reasoning.. When they broke up, he hadn’t accepted it. He brought us to wash his clothes, he said that we are forced to help him, he had not accepted that he cannot come home anymore.

That day I was at home, the doorbell rang, it was a journalist asking if I saw what happened. I didn’t know what he was talking about. He tells me “a woman was murdered under the house”. I called my mom, she didn’t pick up, and then I got really worried, because she always answered right away. I went downstairs, nobody was saying anything to me… As soon as I realized it was my mom, I told the police straight away that he killed her.”