Just days after the brutal attack she suffered in Nea Ionia, the 54-year-old taxi driver — whose passenger bit off part of her ear — speaks exclusively to parapolitika.gr about what she experienced and where she stands today. The woman, who the 35-year-old allegedly grabbed by the throat and threatened to kill, is still in pain, and the thought of getting back behind the wheel has become something she dreads.
“Thank God I survived,” she says, as she struggles to recover both physically and psychologically from an attack she insists she had no way of predicting. The 54-year-old maintains that at the start of the ride, she noticed nothing alarming about the 35-year-old’s behavior. The passenger sat quietly in the back seat without speaking, and when the card payment terminal couldn’t find a signal, it was actually he who suggested they move a little further down the road. “How could I have imagined it?” she tells parapolitika.gr. She recalls that his behavior gradually began to shift. At one point, the 35-year-old said his patience was running out — but the driver didn’t interpret the remark as a threat. She assumed he was simply frustrated by the delay in completing the payment. “I didn’t realize his patience was running out to the point where things would go that far. I thought he was just losing patience because we couldn’t find a signal,” she explains.
Nea Ionia attack: “I’m still in pain from where he grabbed my throat”
The driver has since been discharged from hospital, but continues to require medical attention for her injured ear and attends regular dressing changes. “We’re trying to get my ear to heal properly. I’m taking five antibiotics a day to make sure there’s no infection,” she says. But the consequences of the attack extend far beyond the injury to her ear. She is still experiencing pain in her throat from where the 35-year-old grabbed her, and her hands are also sore from the pressure she endured and her desperate struggle to break free. “I’m in pain. The pain around my throat from how hard he grabbed me still hasn’t gone away,” she notes. She is also managing ongoing medical appointments on top of all the legal proceedings that have followed the attack.
“Thank God I survived”
The wounds, however, are not only physical. When the conversation turns to how she is processing what happened, the 54-year-old’s response is simple: “Thank God I survived.” She admits she has not recovered psychologically and that the prospect of returning to work — of finding herself alone in a taxi with an unknown passenger again — genuinely frightens her. “I definitely have psychological issues now, because I’m afraid to get back in a taxi with a stranger,” she says.
“We can’t put every passenger through a scanner”
Drawing on her own ordeal, the 54-year-old also raises the broader issue of taxi driver safety, pointing out that it is practically impossible for a driver to know the intentions of every passenger they pick up. “We can’t put every person we let into our taxi through a scanner,” she says. She is calling for stronger protective measures, including the possibility of installing a physical partition between the driver and passengers. “I don’t feel protected. The state isn’t helping us put something between us so we can work like normal people, in peace,” she stresses.
Nea Ionia: How the ride began
The 35-year-old had boarded the taxi at Omonia Square, with Nea Ionia as his destination. When they arrived, he attempted to pay by card, but the payment terminal was unable to connect due to a poor signal. The driver moved the vehicle to try to find a better connection and complete the transaction, then turned around to take him home. According to her account, during the ride she pointed out that if he had known there were signal issues in the area, he could have brought cash. At that point, she alleges, the 35-year-old lunged at her from the back seat, grabbed her by the throat, and threatened her. “Today is your last day — I’m going to kill you,” she has stated he told her.
The struggle inside the taxi
What followed was a violent struggle inside the vehicle. The 54-year-old tried to open the door and get out, while simultaneously leaning on the horn and screaming for help. According to her account, the 35-year-old had bitten down on her ear and would not let go. In a desperate bid to free herself, she made the decision to pull her head away with all her strength. “I thought, ‘all or nothing.’ He’s biting me, so I pull. I heard a crack in my ear — that was the piece of my ear being severed,” she recounted. It was ultimately the detachment of part of her ear that allowed her to break free from his grip. The 54-year-old managed to get out of the car covered in blood, but according to her account, the 35-year-old continued to chase her around the taxi.
35-year-old remanded in custody
Meanwhile, the 35-year-old was remanded in custody following his court appearance, after being deemed a flight risk and a danger to the public given the severity of the alleged offence. Through his defense, he requested a psychiatric evaluation, citing mental health issues and a 67% disability rating, while his father testified as a defense witness. The accused presents a different version of events leading up to the incident. He claims that the search for a card payment signal lasted approximately 15 minutes and was followed by a verbal altercation. He also alleges that the driver braked sharply, causing him to hit his head on the seat and break his glasses.
