A 44-year-old mother has been killed by her estranged 53-year-old husband in the Rodopi region of northern Greece, just one day before she was scheduled to officially file for divorce. The woman had returned home from seasonal work on the island of Thasos to celebrate her daughter's 16th birthday when the fatal attack took place.
The victim was attacked with a knife inside the family home in front of her children. Her 16-year-old daughter alerted authorities in terror, telling emergency operators that her father had stabbed her mother before drinking an unidentified liquid.
The couple's 19-year-old son rushed his mother to the hospital immediately after the assault. Despite intensive efforts by medical staff to save her life, the woman died from her injuries.
According to her lawyer, the victim had planned to submit formal divorce papers the day after her daughter's birthday before returning to Thasos for her seasonal job. Her legal representative said the woman had done everything right, but simply ran out of time to escape a relationship with a troubled history.
History of domestic violence
Police said the couple was living apart at the time of the killing, with investigators examining jealousy as the primary motive for the attack. Authorities noted that the violence followed previous reports of domestic abuse between the pair.
In 2022, the 53-year-old man was arrested in the act in Heraklion, Crete, following a complaint of domestic threat made by the same woman. Heraklion is the administrative capital of Crete, Greece's largest island, located in the southern Aegean Sea.
Although no new domestic incidents had been officially recorded in recent years, the suspect was under psychiatric care and taking prescribed medication. The victim had previously requested her husband's involuntary psychiatric hospitalization, though that procedure did not go forward.
Police charges and investigation
The Hellenic Police, the national police force of Greece, announced that officers arrested the 53-year-old suspect at the scene. Investigators confiscated two knives from the family home during their initial search of the crime scene.
Prosecutors have opened a formal case file charging the suspect with intentional homicide, domestic violence, and violations of weapons laws. The man remains under police guard at a local hospital while receiving treatment after ingesting liquid following the stabbing.
The crime occurred in Iasmos, a town situated within the Rodopi regional unit in the historic region of Western Thrace in northern Greece. Thasos, where the victim was employed for the summer season, is an island in the northern Aegean Sea situated off the coast of Eastern Macedonia.
