With shocking details, the friend of Kyriaki Griva described to the Mixed Jury Court the final moments of the 28-year-old, who was murdered by her ex-partner outside the police station where she had sought help. The witness testified: “I couldn’t do anything more and I have no regrets. If a citizen has a problem, they go to the police to be saved.”
Describing the attack scene with intense emotion, he said: “As we waited to see if the patrol car would come, Kyriaki froze, turned around and shouted ‘I’m dying’. She took the first stab, the second… From the corner of my eye I see the defendant. We heard footsteps. I saw blood flowing straight out. It was like watching a movie. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I ran toward the station, shouting ‘ambulance’, ‘help’. Meanwhile, the defendant had turned her over and was stabbing her with more knife wounds, four or five. I saw him self-harming. I started shouting ‘How many more does he need to finish off?’ and then the guard came out and kicked the knife away from him.”
Judge: What was the target of the attack?
Witness: It must have been specific. Kyriaki.
The witness was categorical that the 28-year-old went to the police station because she was afraid. “We went to the station because she was scared. She said ‘if anyone can do something, it’s the police‘. As soon as I saw the blood gushing from her chest, I ran… After he stabbed her twice and she fell face down, he turned her over and climbed on top of her. I’m sitting on the bench and I saw him stabbing her. When he turned her, he was right at the guard post,” the witness said.
In response to prosecutor’s questions, the witness explained they had met three times recently, describing: “I hadn’t seen her for five years. She called me once. I told her ‘since we’ve broken up, I don’t want to meet’. We went out three times. The 29th, 30th and Monday, the day the murder happened.”
Prosecution: What did she tell you about why she chose this man with the shaved head and tattoos?
Witness: Maybe he promised her many things, marriage… I thought she was too young to get married. At the café she told me he was hitting her… Kyriaki wasn’t like I knew her. She was more unkempt, more tired but also more experienced.
Prosecution: Did you see a happy person?
Kyriaki Griva murder trial: “Where I knew a little girl with open wings, I saw a mature woman whose wings had been clipped”
Witness: No. When I asked her why she didn’t have friends, she told me he didn’t let her have contacts. So she was forced to go out with me. She wanted to make a fresh start, change her haircut. I told her she could go to the provinces. Suddenly, where I knew a little girl who had open wings, I saw a mature woman whose wings had been clipped. I didn’t have time to learn what was happening with her life.
Prosecution: Did she express fear for her life?
Witness: Not only on the day we went to the station.
The witness testified that Kyriaki saw the defendant’s motorcycle outside her house and was terrified.
Prosecution: Was the perpetrator on it?
Witness: Yes… She screamed and told me “I can’t stay at my house today”.
Prosecution: Did she go for protection?
Witness: Yes. She asked for the simplest thing.
Regarding what happened inside the station, he mentioned that Kyriaki went in alone. “Kyriaki told me to stay outside, it was something personal,” he said in his testimony.
Prosecution: Did you hear what the police officers told her?
Witness: Not the whole conversation. From what I understood, they told her to file a complaint and she didn’t want to because she had no money. They didn’t ask for the details of the person she was afraid of. She told them she had filed a complaint and withdrawn it.
Prosecution: In your first statement you say she wasn’t afraid.
Witness: That’s not right. It seems a bit ridiculous to me. You don’t go to the police if you’re not afraid.
When asked if he read his statement, he replied: “I read it… I might have missed the ‘not’, I might have been confused.” Regarding the police response time, he said officers appeared after the perpetrator had self-harmed and he had called them.
Prosecution: How long did the attack last?
Witness: The incident wasn’t that quick. It didn’t happen in split seconds.
Prosecution: When did the guard come out?
Witness: When he finished with Kyriaki, he self-harmed and was still holding the knife. Then he came out and kicked it away from him.
The witness explained that he believes the police didn’t do what they could. “In the end it wasn’t about money. The police didn’t do anything to show her trust. Their mentality was ‘okay, we’re getting off work soon’. The only thing they told her was to file a complaint.”
Prosecutor: Did she tell you when leaving that they asked for a fee?
Witness: Yes, she told me “I don’t have money to pay”.
Prosecutor: Could the guard see the scene?
Witness: I don’t know what he could see. The only thing I know is that when Kyriaki saw him, she turned immediately and said “I’m dying”.
