The 39-year-old son of a wealthy family was found guilty by the Thessaloniki Military Court for the murder of a Sri Lankan domestic helper in February 2013, with the 25-year-old victim being found dead in the pool of the luxurious residence where the family lived.

About 12 years after the crime, and following the Supreme Court’s annulment of a previous acquittal, the Thessaloniki Military Court unanimously found the accused guilty of premeditated murder while in a calm mental state. It is important to note that at the time of the crime, the accused was serving his military service.

The court will soon decide on possible mitigating factors and the overall sentence to be imposed.

It is noted that the court held three sessions regarding the defendant’s guilt in the previous period.

As stated by the court’s president, it was concluded from the three meetings about the decision that it was a “cold-blooded murder,” and the defendant’s motive was “to prevent his deviating sexual behavior and his romantic approach toward the victim from being revealed to his family, especially his father.”

The court president emphasized that the defendant had shown sexual intentions, which were firmly rejected by the victim, leading to fear. Among other things, the presiding judge stated that after committing the act, the 39-year-old staged the crime scene to mislead the authorities, while dismissing his alibi that he was at an internet café at the time of the crime.

The Military Court decided to forward the trial records to be reviewed for potential responsibility of the then head of the Homicide Department and two police officers handling the case, by the Thessaloniki Security Directorate.

Meanwhile, upon hearing the defendant’s conviction, members of his family shouted, “What are you saying?” “He’s innocent” “There is no justice.”

“He Set Up a Fake Alibi”

The prosecutor requested the defendant’s conviction from the military judges. In his speech, he concluded that the 39-year-old son of a well-known family of businesspeople strangled the victim and threw him into the pool of the mansion where he worked, in the Eleonai district of Thessaloniki, attempting to make it seem like a drowning. “He set up a fake alibi,” the prosecutor emphasized, while regarding the defendant’s motive, he stated that it wasn’t premeditated murder, but rather sexual intercourse with the domestic helper, and the strangulation was likely a result of the 25-year-old’s refusal to submit to his desires.

Furthermore, the prosecutor pointed to glaring omissions in the police investigation, which, according to the prosecutor’s proposal, ultimately led to the inability to collect biological material for potential analysis.

Regarding the defendant’s claim that at the time of the incident, he was at an internet café playing poker, the prosecutor, evaluating the footage from the café’s security cameras, stated that “it is not possible to draw a definitive conclusion from the laboratory tests regarding whether the defendant was at the specific location.”

What the 39-Year-Old Defendant Said

“I am innocent. This story has been a huge burden for my family all these years. I am heterosexual. I had no reason or motivation to commit such an act,” the defendant stated in his defense and added, among other things: “I am more of a victim than the victim, I am a father of two children, I am not to blame for anything.” He became the defendant in the murder case, as he was the last person to meet the domestic helper face-to-face.