Suspect in murder, abduction claims blackout

The 33-year-old man accused of murdering his estranged wife and snatching their 4-year-old child from her home in Halkidiki earlier this month told a magistrate in northern Greece Friday that he did not realize that he had killed the 41-year-old woman.

According to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, the man said that he had become enraged when his wife told him that he would not be able to see his children again and that she had hired top lawyers to prevent him doing so.

He claims that he does not remember what happened when he went to the house in Halkidiki to confront her and that his next memory was of stopping his scooter on a country road with his son riding with him.

The 33-year-old, who was on the run for 18 days, said he saw blood on his hands and realized something bad had happened but could not imagine that he had killed his wife.

The magistrate decided that he should remain in custody and he was taken to Diavata prison in Thessaloniki.