Edessa Jury Court to the two defendants accused of the murder of the 41-year-old pregnant woman, last January, with her body found in a trunk in a forest area near Monopigado, on the border of the prefectures of Thessaloniki and Halkidiki.
The two accused in the murder of Georgia, who was also the mother of a minor girl, her 39-year-old partner, and his 34-year-old friend, were unanimously found guilty of charges of murder with a decoy, of termination of pregnancy and robbery (jointly and severally), as well as unlawful carrying and use of a firearm. The two men were not recognized for any mitigating circumstances and returned to prison where they were already after they apologized to the 4th regular investigator of Thessaloniki.
According to the forensic findings, the unfortunate woman, who was in her 7th week of pregnancy, had three fatal knife wounds in the cervical region and neck. The murder was committed on New Year’s Day, in the 39-year-old’s apartment in Kalamaria, and the perpetrators’ motive appears to have been robbery.
The testimonies are charged
The evidentiary process began Monday morning with the examination of a police officer describing how private authorities arrived at the arrest of the two men, while the brother of the 41-year-old woman testified immediately afterward.
Indicative of the charged atmosphere inside and outside the climate courtroom yesterday, is that the witness was flanked by police officers during his testimony to avoid an incident with the two accused sitting in the dock.
The 41-year-old’s brother said he had only seen her partner five times and had told his sister he didn’t like her as a character. In addition, he said that as time went on he saw his sister growing distant, pensive, and troubled.
“My sister was working and the defendant said she was working. She had no financial comfort, she didn’t even have a skateboard,” the witness said, and at another point, in his testimony, he said he knew she was pregnant and that lately, he thought she was unhappy. The sister of the 41-year-old woman’s partner testified in turn that she learned about the case of Georgia’s disappearance on television and was struck by the way her accused brother spoke as it seemed that he was hiding something rather than being worried.
The witness testified that if she had known the victim she would have warned her to get away from her brother as she knew his character. She described him as irritable and manipulative and said that he had also used violence on her.
“He was violent, he would beat me badly and I would often go to the hospital. He also had aggressive behavior towards his second wife,” he testified.
The woman also testified that she did not understand why they took Georgia’s life and then put on an act. “I don’t understand why, the motive certainly wasn’t money. I want to know why they killed Georgia,” he said.
In their pleas before hearing the court’s verdict, both Georgia’s 39-year-old partner and his 34-year-old boyfriend denied the charges and pointed to each other as the pregnant woman’s killer.
“It’s driving me crazy…”
Displaying a defiant attitude from time to time, according to APE-MPA, the 39-year-old said that on the New Year’s Day in question, when the woman was murdered, he entered the apartment in Kalamaria with her, took his medication and went to sleep, without realizing the slightest thing. “I fooled around a bit with Georgia, took my (psychiatric) medication, and went to sleep,” he said, adding: “When I woke up the next day, Georgia was gone, and she had taken 5,000 euros from my savings. I don’t know who sent me the message when she was dead. I suspect the 34-year-old did it,” he said.
As for the photographic material in the case file showing him and his co-defendant carrying the woman’s lifeless body in a trunk, he identified his friend in them, while for the second person, he replied that “it is someone who has common characteristics with me.” Giving his version of the crime and referring to his 34-year-old friend, he claimed that he lured the deceased woman to the basement where he killed her. “It was only a matter of time before he was arrested and he gave me up to lighten his position. He wasn’t fed up with the harm he did he wanted to continue his revenge. I am going crazy, I want to catch him and drain him for saying these things about me,” he said.
“Come help me, she’s dead”
Taking the baton of apology, the 34-year-old claimed for his part that he agreed to participate in a staged robbery because he needed the money. “Lately I had an issue with money and the 39-year-old owed me 800 euros. He told me that if I wanted this money we would do a staged robbery against Georgia to get it. I had no intention of doing that but he was convincing. He said we would take 8,000 euros from her house that her parents had to go on a trip. I needed the money and he said we would immobilize her and get the key so we could then go to her house,”
he noted.
Describing his version of events and what he and his co-defendant allegedly had prearranged, he noted: “He told me that I should be upstairs at the house and when they came he would do a ‘screwball’ so I would understand. He gave me a knife to scare her. When he tied her up I put the knife down and he motioned for me to come downstairs and wait for him so we could go to the house and get the money. He came down agitated and said, “come help me, she’s dead – as she was moving she fell on the knife“. The mattress was covered in blood. I went crazy, and he threatened me. He cleaned it up. He found the box in another house and put her in it himself along with the blanket. I was only involved in carrying and transporting it.” He said he decided to go to the authorities confessing his involvement in the crime because “I could not keep them inside any longer.”
It is noted that after the end of yesterday’s proceedings, relatives of the deceased moved threateningly against the two accused, a scene that had been repeated the same morning during their transfer to the courts, while a confrontation with the defense witnesses was threatened, and the intervention of the police was needed to avoid the worst.
