Domestic violence in Greece has literally gone out of control with 12 incidents reported to police in the last 24 hours. The victims were assaulted by their current or ex husbands and partners or by their fathers, their mothers or their children.
Citizens’ Protection Minister, Michalis Chrysochoidis, said on Monday morning that police receives one complaint of domestic violence every 45 minutes.
The figures are obviously nightmarish, but even if his estimate involves some exaggeration, reality itself confirms that the situation has gone out of control, noted daily topontiki.gr.
It is horrifying that only in the last 24 hours more than 10 cases of domestic violence have been made known. Three of these cases concern only the region of Etoloakarnania in western Greece.
The three women were allegedly threatened on Monday, April 8, by their husbands Plice was mobilized and the three victims are now being hosted by relatives.
Etolico: He hit her with a brick
Monday afternoon, in the village of Stamna, Etoloakarnania, a 51-year-old man allegedly hit his wife on the head with a brick. The 48-year-old victim was transferred to the Health Center of the area and later to two other hospitals, During her presence at the hospital, together with the nurses, they called the police, who arrived at their home, but did not find the attacker. Nevertheless, a case file was filed against him for causing dangerous bodily harm and domestic violence. The woman was discharged and is now staying with a relative.
Punching in Antirrio
In another incident that took place in Antirrio, a 35-year-old man was arrested for assaulting his wife. The woman claimed that the man punched her in the face and that this has been happening systematically in recent years. The man is being held for causing bodily harm and for domestic violence. However, the perpetrator sued his wife, claiming that she also hit and abused him. The alleged perpetrator is expected to be brought before the competent Prosecutor of Messolonghi.
Other incidents of domestic violence on April 8
In Thessaloniki, an already convicted 51-year-old man damages the tires of his ex-wife’s car and was accused of damaging someone else’s property and violating a restraining order. The woman who lives with her children, told the police that she fears for her life as he has threatened her that he would kill her. She emphasizing that “I am afraid that I will not be the next victim like the girl in Athens”. The police installed the panic button app on her cell phone.
In Agios Panteleimonas, Athens, a 21-year-old woman reported her ex-partner for threats. Police units have tracked the 23-year-old man down and arrested him.
In Orchomenos, Boeotia, police officers handcuffed a 73-year-old man after a complaint by his daughter and his estranged wife that he forced his daughter to leave the house he had given her and where she had recently lived with her three minor children. Furthermore, he is accused of driving his car in a dangerous manner, passing very close to his estranged wife, causing her to panic.
In Chalkida, a 13-year-old girl complained that her mother, after a verbal argument at home, abused her and broke her mobile phone. She also alleged that her mother pulled her by the hair and threw her to the ground, hitting her in the head area. However, the girl did not press charges against her mother.
Also in Chalkida, a 66-year-old woman also filed a complaint against her 46-year-old son, whom she accuses of hitting her and pushing her inside the house, injuring her. In both incidents in Chalkida, a forensic examination of the victim was ordered.
In Fthiotida, a 26-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against her father, since, as she complained, when she went to her father’s house to collect her personal belongings, he verbally threatened her and insulted her. For her safety, she stayed in the police station overnight and will be transferred to a hostel for women in Lamia within the day.
A 52-year-old man was arrested in Aigio early Tuesday morning after he hit his 41-year-old wife on the head with a kitchen device. the victim was taken to the hospital and received medical aid.
Authorities in panic after murder outside police station
The brutal murder of 28-year-old Kyriaki Griva by her former partner outside a police station in Athens on April 1, and the blatant failure of police to effectively respond to her call for help has alerted the Greek government, shocked the society and most likely also panicked women who have been victims of domestic violence.
Minister Chrysochoidis promised to train police officers how to deal with victims of domestic violence and to offer them provisional staying in police stations until more shelters for abused women are being established.
This may have encouraged women to speak up and seriously try to break out of abusive relationships.
However, the government must do much more that only to respond with promises when in panic.
