Greece’s Supreme Court has launched an investigation into the release of a prominent lawyer accused of beating his wife.
Judicial officials released Apostolos Lytras, 52, on Monday after appearing before a local prosecutor to answer charges of causing severe intentional bodily harm for the brutal assault on his 37-year-old wife, who is also a lawyer.
In a shocking revelation, meantime, his wife Sofia Polyzogopoulou described the brutal beating she suffered and how she begged her husband to stop hitting her as she was choking on blood and felt herself losing consciousness.
The lawyer spoke to Star channel yesterday, expressing her shock.
“I am physically and mentally devastated. I’m trying to protect my physical and mental health. Things have taken their course. I’m not okay; how can I be?” she said.
In her deposition, she asserted her determination to report her husband for domestic violence incidents, which led her to speak to doctors and police.
She recounted entering a local clinic with her husband and immediately telling a nurse that her husband had hit her. The nurse and doctor promptly notified the police.
According to the 37-year-old lawyer’s testimony, an argument in a Vouliagmeni shop escalated quickly once they entered their car, where he punched her in the face.
“He started driving at dizzying speeds and stopped at a secluded spot on the right side of the road where he hit me in the face with his fists,” she described. “I was screaming for help and begging him to stop while my face was covered in blood.”
She recalled feeling like she was losing consciousness. Eventually, he noticed her state and stopped. Despite her pleas to be taken to a hospital and given her phone to contact her sister or someone close, he was unresponsive even as she warned him she might die from severe bleeding.
“He drove me home. With whatever strength I had left because I was very dizzy and badly beaten, I told him I was going to wash up,” she continued. Before she could reach the “panic button” connected to the police alarm system, he took it from her along with her phone.
As per her testimony, he agreed to take her to the hospital only after she assured him she would lie to the doctors.