“We are innocent” supported daughter and grandson for the murder of the 85-year-old in Ialyssos

Eleftheria Pellos

His 65-year-old daughter and 39-year-old grandson, who are accused in this case, defended their innocence yesterday at the Kos Mixed Jury, stressing that the death of the 85-year-old man in Ialyssos was not a criminal act but suicide.

The incident happened on November 2, 2015 in Ialyssos, in the house where the elderly man lived, who was seriously injured and was taken to the Rhodes Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on the afternoon of November 11, 2015.

The 85-year-old was found covered in blood at his home, with serious injuries to his head and body, however what played a decisive role in him losing the battle for life was his liver injury.

The daughter and the grandson were charged with a felony for manslaughter with intent and in a calm state of mind, a charge for which yesterday they sat on the bench of the Kos Mixed Jury Court, which is going to complete the hearing and issue a decision, on November 29.

However, yesterday in front of the court, both the daughter and the grandson of the old man, repeated what they maintain from the beginning, namely that they are innocent and that the 85-year-old himself ended his life.

In fact, there were witnesses in front of the court who stated that the deceased had attempted the same thing another time, while the medical examiner who testified spoke of a case of suicide with regard to the first part of the elderly man’s wounds and the rest of the wounds came from the fall he had.

The trial was adjourned for November 29, when the prosecutor’s motion will be made, the purchases of the defense attorneys, etc. Stelios Kiourtzis and Ioannis Koukoulas and finally the issuance of the court’s decision.

As “Rodiaki” had made public, the two involved had been “locked up” by the policemen of the Security Sub-Directorate of Rhodes, who had brought them in as part of the investigation of the case.

According to information, when examined, mother and son allegedly encountered contradictions about what had happened in the early hours of Monday, November 2, 2015 at the house of the 85-year-old grandfather, but no one has accepted what is attributed to them.

In particular, the 39-year-old grandson allegedly initially testified to the police that at around 2 am he heard his grandmother arguing with his grandfather and at the urging of his wife he went to their house where he told them to be quiet.

According to the 39-year-old, the 85-year-old went to his room and he stayed and talked with his grandmother for a while and then went home and slept.

His grandfather kept shouting and about 45 minutes later, his wife told the 39-year-old she heard moaning and someone calling for help and asked him to go see what was going on.

Then the 39-year-old said he entered his grandparents’ apartment barefoot and there he found the grandmother shouting that the grandfather had killed himself, while there were blood stains on the sofa cushion and on the bed in his bedroom.

As the 39-year-old said, he saw the 85-year-old lying in the back yard, covered in blood and calling for help, and he immediately rushed to inform his mother, while he called from the mobile phone and the EMS. He also took the blanket his mother gave him and covered the 85-year-old.

For her part, the 65-year-old mother and daughter of the victim told the police that at around 2:30 in the morning she heard someone calling for help and immediately knocked on the door of the apartment next door, while a few minutes later her son came and told her that the 85-year-old is in the backyard covered in blood and that an ambulance had been called.

Then the 65-year-old went to the apartment and started yelling at her mother, considering her responsible for the situation the 85-year-old had reached and the old woman, according to the defendant, told her that the grandfather had pointed two knives he was holding at his chest and at then he left for the bedroom.

The 65-year-old had also said that her son asked her for a blanket to cover the old man, while when the ambulance took him, she went to the grandfather’s room, collected the bloody sheets and pillowcases and put them in the washing machine to be washed.

It is worth noting that in the investigations carried out at the scene of the incident and at the houses of the two involved, three (3) knives and clothes with obvious blood stains were found and confiscated, among others.

As far as the 85-year-old is concerned, according to the estimates of the doctors who examined him at the Rhodes Hospital, he had multiple injuries on his head and face, as well as blows from a “nysson instrument” on his chest, abdomen and other parts of his body.

The forensic report
According to information, the forensic examination showed that the death of the grandfather and the complexity of his injuries, are due to his fall from a height and a tendency to commit suicide, due to the disorder from which he suffered.

As characteristically stated in the forensic autopsy report, “the wounds found externally on the thorax and epigastrium were caused by a “slashing and cutting instrument”.

The overall picture of the above wounds (severity, location – distribution) is indicative of provocation by the person himself in the context of a suicide attempt”.

This fact was pointed out both during their statement to the investigator Rodos and yesterday in court by the two defendants, who had stated from the beginning that they have nothing to do with what is being attributed to them.