“The perpetrators fled on two motorcycles. My mother will undergo surgery now at Tzaneio Hospital, she is very scared from what she experienced” are the words of Vasiliki Mertika, daughter of the victim of the knife attack in Piraeus where the terrifying incident of the stabbing of the driving school owner took place in the middle of the street. The woman speaks to parapolitika.gr about the nightmare her mother experienced, describing the scene of the attack.
Knife attack on driving school owner in Piraeus: The daughter’s account
“My mother called me crying and screaming that they hit her. She goes early every morning to the office to open and prepare it as usual, and that’s what happened today. But shortly after 8:30 am, two young men wearing masks on their faces broke into the office. She saw them from the door and realized something bad was going to happen, so she screamed for help, and one of the two perpetrators hit her with a club on the leg three times,” states Vasiliki Mertika, referring to the traumatic experience her mother had.
Vasiliki Mertika in the photograph
“We believe the motive was robbery, but they didn’t manage to take anything since neighbors had already come out to see what was happening. The perpetrators fled on two motorcycles. My mother will undergo surgery now at Tzaneio Hospital, she is very scared from what she experienced,” added Ms. Mertika, speaking about her mother’s health condition.
Timeline of the Piraeus stabbing incident
A shocking incident occurred on Friday morning as two men riding motorcycles stabbed a woman who operates a driving school in Piraeus. According to information from parapolitika.gr, men riding two motorcycles with covered license plates – one carrying one person with a helmet and the other carrying two, also with helmets – stabbed the woman who owns the driving school, with the incident causing shock in the area.
Parapolitika.gr contacted an eyewitness to the attack, who operates a neighborhood store right next to the driving school, who conveyed the atmosphere from the shocking moment of the attack when panic prevailed. “We were all speechless,” describes the eyewitness, when around 8:45 am he heard “screams and shouts.” “I heard them shouting for help and next to me I see two large-displacement scooters, one alone in front and two behind, all 3 with helmets, one had no license plates and the other had a covered license plate,” he reported, describing the characteristics of the perpetrators and emphasizing that the passenger of the second scooter who came out of the driving school was the perpetrator who stabbed the woman.
Between the driving school and the store operated by the eyewitness, there is a café, from which a customer came out as soon as he heard the screams and headed to the driving school, where he came face to face with the perpetrator who stabbed the elderly woman, who did not hesitate to threaten him with a sharp object, approximately 40 centimeters in diameter, which was the object with which he attacked the woman. Inside the driving school there was a pool of blood from the wound of the woman, aged about 80 years, and as he describes, the perpetrator entered the driving school and stabbed the woman directly. There was no prior dialogue, confrontation, or discussion, giving the impression that the attack was targeted. At the same time, this position appears to “tie” with testimony stating that the perpetrators allegedly made an “exploratory first round” passing outside the store before the attack, as DIAS Team officers are often found at the location. When they saw that “the field was clear,” they came back and stabbed the woman.
It should be noted here that the reflexes of the Hellenic Police were immediate, as the DIAS team was at the scene in less than 10 minutes, while until the ambulance service picked up the woman, a pharmacist provided first aid.
