With the plea of the 50-year-old man accused of killing the 49-year-old hunterin November 2019 in Bali Rethymnon, the trial continued at the Joint Court of Appeal, under strict security measures. The prosecutor proposed to the court the guilt of the cattle farmer for manslaughter with intent.

The defendant began his plea by describing what happened that day. He began by saying that “at about 6am that day I had gone to feed the goats. There was a dog near the shed where the feeder was and it was approaching while half the goats had turned towards the mountain. I heard the dog barking and he had grabbed a goat by the leg. As soon as I saw this I yelled at the dog and shot it towards the mountain. Then a shot came in my direction.”

“I didn’t realize there were hunters nearby. The hunter heard the shot and thought I had killed the dog. “You’re going to kill my dog” he yelled. At that moment I didn’t know who it was, I was afraid he was going to kill me. I started looking for a way to cover myself. I see a spot where there were branches and a rock and I said I’ll go there to take cover. Then two more shots were fired. One shot hit me in the shoulder blade. I had also loaded my gun and from where I heard the shots I fired. I was screaming “they got me.” I didn’t understand what was happening I was in a semi-conscious state. I was blurred,” the accused added, according to flashnews.gr.

“I tried to reload the gun I had “broken” it to put a cartridge in it but I couldn’t. From the day I was shot until today two fingers on my hand are like dead. I left the spot where I had been hiding and went from the back to the top. I didn’t even realize how I was taken from there and how I ended up in the hospital,” he continued.

Among other things he noted that “my brother was also in the shed he had come to feed his own goats but he did not follow me. I thought the dog was stray and wild and would do damage. I had taken the gun with me because it could have attacked me too. I wanted to get away from the goat, if I wanted to kill I would have killed the dog. It is a lie that I said the phrase ‘I will kill you too’.”

The 50-year-old concluded his apology by saying “if I had known what was going to happen that day I wouldn’t have wanted to go at all. And if all the goats were drowned, killed and slaughtered I wouldn’t want to go. It ruined both our lives. We were friends, our kids hung out, and this is what we ended up with. For one dog, we broke up both our families. The dog wasn’t wearing anything that hunting dogs normally wear. He was a big dog, bigger than the small hunting dogs.”

Guilty plea recommended by prosecutor

For his part, the prosecutor recommended that the 50-year-old breeder be found guilty of intentional homicide in a calm mental state. In his proposal, the prosecutor did not accept the defendant’s claims that he was in a state of mental impulse and noted that the incident with the goat he described was not proven. In fact, he said, the defendant’s subsequent actions did not support this version and had been preceded by insults and threats.

At the same time, the prosecutor in his motion recounting the incidents said that the proceedings show that the victim received the first shot and then fired three consecutive shots.

The trial will resume on Tuesday, February 25.

The murder

The tragedy unfolded on the morning of November 16, 2019. The hunter allegedly argued with the then 45-year-old breeder when the victim’s hounds entered the latter’s sheepfold, resulting in a fight.

The rancher claimed in preliminary questioning that the 49-year-old hunter was the one who first turned the gun on him and shot him, while the victim’s side claims the exact opposite.