Greece’s Supreme Court president on Tuesday ordered an urgent review of a convicted rapist ’s conditional release in 2020 – by a mixed judges-jurors court – pending his appeal, and following the man’s confession this week to raping and killing his 11-year-old niece.
The heinous crime has, yet again, shocked public opinion in the east Mediterranean country, with the focus directed on a perceived leniency in Greece’s penal code and all-round laxity regarding parole and bail conditions – even for felons convicted of violent offenses.
High court President Ioanna Klapa requested the case file for review and possible disciplinary action against the three female judges of the mixed court on the Ionian Sea island of Zakynthos.
The 37-year-old man’s appeal hearing was postponed in 2022 after the court ascertained that he did not have a defense attorney. Rather than immediately appointing an attorney, even one present in the building at the time, the court granted a continuance. Repeated industrial actions by bar associations in the country also delayed the appeals process, other reports stated.
The first instance conviction for the rape of a 14-year-old girl was handed down in 2020, but the nine-year sentence was suspended pending appeal. However, as the high court president noted, no reasoning accompanied the decision. The next date for the appeals trial was rescheduled for 2025.
Both last week’s murder and the original sexual assault in 2017 were committed outside the southwest Greece city of Pyrgos, in Ilia prefecture, in the Peloponnese province’s northwest.
The body of 11-year-old Vassiliki was discovered in a field among a patch of reeds outside the village of Myrtia on Monday, with the suspect – identified as her mother’s cousin – reportedly leading police to the location.
Meanwhile, an initial autopsy report released on Tuesday shows fatal stab wounds to the victim’s heart and spleen, while the coroner said Vassiliki was raped before she was killed. Previously, police said the convicted rapist had confessed to using a screwdriver as the murder weapon.
Both the victim and the suspect lived in a predominately Roma village outside Pyrgos and were acquainted.
CCTV footage – released by police to the media – was crucial in cracking the case, as it showed the young victim getting into the alleged perpetrator’s vehicle last week after dusk.