Murders of two women in one day shock nation

Greece is reeling in shock after two men on the islands of Crete and Zakynthos stabbed their wives to death in less than 24 hours. The savagery of the crimes placed the spotlight on the issue of the growing frequency of femicide.

The first murder occurred in Ano Malaki in Rethymno on Crete on Sunday morning, when a 60-year-old man stabbed to death his 56-year-old wife, the mother of four. 

The reason was the victim’s decision to divorce her husband, with whom she had been since she was 16.

“She demolished me,” he claimed, and in his defense said that in the four decades of their relationship he had never laid a hand on his wife. 

The victim, a hairdresser, was highly respected in her local community, which was in utter shock at the gruesome murder. 

The perpetrator in Zakynthos, a 49-year-old non-Greek builder, was known for his violent behavior toward his 41-year-old wife and mother of his three children, both in the local community and at the local police station. 

The victim had filed a complaint of domestic violence in June and on Sunday evening, shortly before she was murdered.

The couple were separated and an injunction was in place which prevented the perpetrator from entering the family home.

The victim had gone to the police station at 9.30 p.m. on Sunday, a few minutes after she was beaten by the perpetrator. The 49-year-old returned to the home in a rage an hour later and, according to a neighbor’s testimony, beat her and pulled her hair, shouting that he was going to kill her. She was taken to hospital in an ambulance and later pronounced dead.

The perpetrator was later arrested by police at the building site where he was employed and reportedly behaved as if nothing had happened. He stated that he killed her because she was cheating on him.