A Greek helicopter pilot who killed his British wife informed an Athens court docket he still loves her as he denied having any intent to hurt her.
Babis Anagnostopoulos, 34, went by way of a charade of pretending that he did not know that his wife Caroline Crouch, 19, was useless and even poked her physique and mentioned ‘honey, are you okay?’ moments after police arrived on the couple’s marital dwelling the place he had staged a housebreaking, the court docket heard.
On the second day of Anagnostopoulos’s high-profile trial, when requested if he accepted the costs he faces, which incorporates premeditated murder, the pilot informed the court docket: ‘My love for my wife hasn’t modified from the time I met her and can by no means change.
‘I by no means had any intent to hurt my wife. I liked her and can proceed to take action.’
His feedback come after police officer Christos Vardikos revealed how after coming into the couple’s Athens dwelling and making his option to an upstairs bed room, he noticed Caroline mendacity on a mattress tied up whereas her child Lydia was beside her, touching her physique and staring silently.
The officer informed the court docket that Anagnostopoulos was seated in a chair beside the mattress together with his arms tied in entrance of him and duct tape over his eyes and mouth.
Helicopter pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos, escorted by armed law enforcement officials, is being led to court docket in Athens on Tuesday for the second day of his murder trial
The couple started relationship when Caroline was still a young person. They married in Portugal in 2019
He added: ‘The girl additionally had her arms tied behind her again with a chunk of clothes. I first untied her and took the infant from on high of her.
‘As quickly because the defendant was untied, the very first thing he did was sit on the mattress, poking the girl and requested: ‘Honey, are you OK?’
‘We informed him that it is over, she is useless. We might inform she was useless as a result of she was all white and fluids had come out from the decrease a part of her physique. In a chair subsequent to her, the defendant’s legs and arms had been tied on the entrance of his physique. The child was on its knees, its arms on its mom’s physique. The child was calm and silent.’
Mr Vardikos revealed that after being untied and informed that Caroline was useless, Anagnostopoulos requested to hug child Lydia and tried to consoler her, however police eliminated her from his arms as a result of he was ‘rocking her too arduous.’
He added: ‘We thought it was higher to take the infant away from him and the scene as a result of he was rocking her too arduous. I held the infant and informed Babis that he ought to name any person to take care of her.’
In addition to the murder of Caroline, Anagnostopoulos can be on trial for killing her pet canine Roxy and with two counts of making an attempt to pervert the course of justice.
Following the killings, he concocted an elaborate ruse that they had been the results of a botched housebreaking.
Anagnostopoulos doesn’t deny the killings however denies murder, insisting that they weren’t ‘premeditated’ and that it was a ‘crime of ardour’ brought on by Caroline’s behaviour.
He faces life imprisonment for the murder of Caroline plus one other ten years for killing Roxy.
Mr Vardikos revealed that after being untied and informed that Caroline was useless, Anagnostopoulos requested to hug child Lydia and tried to consoler her, however police eliminated her from his arms as a result of he was ‘rocking her too arduous.’ Pictured: Caroline and Babis Anagnostopoulos
Caroline (left), Anagnostopoulos (proper) and their child daughter pose for a snap in May 2021
Mr Vardikos mentioned that the very first thing he noticed when he entered the house was Roxy’s torso hanging from a bannister.
He mentioned: ‘I heard a voice yelling for assist. We moved into the home and noticed a canine hanging from the bannister. That’s after I realised one thing was critically incorrect.
‘When we walked in your complete front room ground was coated with canine excrement.’
Mr Vardikos informed the court docket that he and his colleague, Kleanthis Antonopoulos grew to become suspicious of Antonopoulos’s story that burglars had stormed the home and killed Caroline as a result of he was so calm and one thing ‘didn’t really feel proper.’
He mentioned: ‘We informed him to not contact her (Caroline), however he saved on poking her. It was as if he was performing. We had been watching a person who was both in shock or had no idea of what was taking place.
‘His complete behaviour was a bit bizarre and it appeared that he was too calm.’
He added: ‘In my 20 years of expertise I’ve by no means come throughout something like this. We had been overpowered by what we noticed, and it affected us emotionally. But I by no means thought that he had made the entire thing up at that stage.’
Mr Kleanthis added: ‘He reacted as if his wife wasn’t useless. His reactions had been very chilly, so calm to some extent I’ve by no means seen earlier than. We had been extra shocked than he was.
He added: ‘Antonopoulos and I had been collectively for 4 hours and never as soon as did he say, ‘my wife is useless.’ In all my time within the police, that is the primary time that I ever noticed a sufferer so calm and co-operative.
‘We had been additionally very shocked at his lack of emotion when he noticed the canine.’
A key a part of Anagnostopoulos’s defence is that Caroline ‘triggered’ him right into a ‘match of rage’ after she violently pushed a crib through which their then 11-month-old daughter Lydia was sleeping.
While he has admitted to the killing, he maintains that it was a ‘crime of ardour’ after she threatened to divorce him.
He insists that he killed Caroline’s canine Roxy after ‘panicking’ as he concocted a narrative about how she died.
A key a part of Anagnostopoulos’s defence is that Caroline ‘triggered’ him right into a ‘match of rage’ after she violently pushed a crib through which their then 11-month-old daughter Lydia was sleeping
After suffocating Caroline in May as she slept, Anagnostopoulos hanged Roxy from the bannister of their Athens dwelling by his leash in an try and make extra credible his story that burglars had burst in and murdered his wife and the pet she doted on.
Caroline’s physique was found subsequent to her 11-month-old child Lydia whereas Roxy’s hanging torso was the very first thing horrified law enforcement officials noticed once they stormed the home after Anagnostopoulos alerted them, claiming gun-wielding gangsters had made off with money and jewelry.
Anagnostopoulos, a helicopter pilot, saved up the pretence of the ‘grieving husband’ for greater than a month and publicly spoke in regards to the botched housebreaking story.
He was picked up by police final June after attending his wife’s memorial service on the island of Alonnisos, the place she grew up, and confessed to the crime a number of days later.
Greek police arrested him after they discovered no hint of the gang he claimed had tied him up, suffocated his wife and stole €15,000 (£13,000) in money plus jewelry.
They grew to become suspicious when information collected from a health tracker on Caroline’s wrist confirmed her coronary heart had stopped beating earlier than the alleged break-in happened – and information from different technical gadgets highlighted discrepancies.
There might be 9 prosecution witnesses, together with Susan Dela Cuesta, Caroline’s mom, a therapist who Caroline was seeing along with her husband, their former next-door neighbour, the coroner, three law enforcement officials and a few childhood associates of Caroline.
Anagnostopoulos is counting on six witnesses, together with his dad and mom and a few associates to assist him show his case that he acted within the ‘warmth of the second.’
He additionally claims Caroline grew to become extra aggressive after struggling a miscarriage.
