A 42-year-old man killed his mother in Crete, while another case of matricide was discovered in Thessaloniki. The 50-year-old man was staying in the family home with the body of his mother in the bathtub for some five days. Both cases bring again to the limelight the absence of proper psychiatric care for people with mental health issues.
A 42-year old man killed his 67-year-old mother in her own home in Heraklio, Crete.
Neighbors heard the victim calling for help and alerted police.
When police arrived, they found the woman in a lake of blood and the man with blood in his hands.
According to preliminary information, the killing took place about half an hour after Tuesday midnight, when the son went to his mother’s home and both had a strong argument.
It is estimated that the perpetrator hit his mother on the head several times with a wooden item.
Police arrested the son who is said to suffer from mental health issues, local media neakriti.gr reported.
According to preliminary information, the body was fully dressed and in advanced decomposition and it is estimated that the murder took place five days ago, local media thestival.gr reported.
The 50-year-old son has reportedly confessed to his act, however, he could not recall the crime he committed and his motive.
The prosecutor in Thessaloniki has ordered the man’s incarceration in the Thessaloniki Psychiatric Hospital. He had no memory of why or when he committed the heinous crime.
Authorities filed a case for manslaughter with intent and illegal use of a weapon.
The victim was killed with a cutting instrument, however, it is unclear whether police located the weapon that led to the woman’s death.
The body was discovered on Tuesday afternoon.
Also in this case, media reported that the 50-year-old man had mental health issues.
PS Proper care for people with mental health issues is not Greece’s top priority. It never was. It goes hand in hand with the social stigma and the families that have to struggle alone, while the psychiatric care and follow-up is limited to a monthly or bi-monthly visit to a psychiatrist for medication prescription.
I think this is a worldwide problem with no solution. In the US, many mass shooters are mentally unwell. In Greece, it seems they kill their caretakers. In the movie “Joker,” he did both.
You can’t lock them up in a psych ward if they didn’t do anything wrong, and you can’t even force them to take medication if they don’t want to (and a lot of them don’t want to). But maybe the caretakers should know the risks they are dealing with. I hate to say it, but living with someone with paranoid delusions (the most dangerous type) is like living with a pitbull. There’s a good chance they will never hurt someone, but if something triggers them, game over.