The villagers and the side of the 23-year-old perpetrator speak of an aggressive, nervous and violent man, for the 52-year-old who was murdered at the party in Kissamos at Chania last Sunday (26.10.2025).
The local community in Kissamos, Chania, remains shocked after the cold-blooded murder of the 52-year-old farmer at the chestnut festival on Sunday afternoon. The 23-year-old perpetrator, who surrendered to the authorities, is expected to apologize on Saturday, while as he has already said in his testimony, he shot the victim “because I was afraid he would pull out a weapon first”.
The character of the victim, according to testimonies in the village, was explosive. Other testimonies from relatives will say that he simply did not want injustice, on the other hand there are those who see that his outbursts often put him in a difficult position.
The same is supported by those who know the 23-year-old perpetrator, such as one of his relatives who spoke on the Live News show, both about the young man and the 52-year-old victim.
“For us who know what kind of person he (the 52-year-old) was, it was only a matter of time before someone got him out of the way. He had a problem with the whole village, no one spoke to him in the village. The man was a strange fellow. He was aggressive, the man was crazy, he was not in his best mood.
The child did not have the necessary composure that an older person would have and he got involved. The child now, on top of his mother’s insult, on top of the fear he felt that the opposite of what happened, is telling you it’s better that I get ahead” said the relative of the 23-year-old.
“He was aggressive, he had a lot of beatings and he had a lot of lawsuits. His criminal record was overflowing. He went and joined the company of the little one and he shouldn’t have done that. He went and mingled among the others, in the company of the little ones who were all the soi over there. The kid didn’t attack. The kid, he’s a kid, he won’t think about what he’s going to do, he’s thinking about it now that he’s inside. He is remorseful, he understood his act, from then on he will be patient, everyone will be patient,” he stressed.
“The killer’s father and (the victim) hung out a lot and grew up together. They had no differences. What they hear now, constantly, accusations, is in their favor to see how they will cope. There is no misunderstanding. He went down to the square to drink a glass of wine and the eldest daughter was preparing at home for the celebration, “I prepared, I prepared, I cleaned the house, I prepared” she tells me “to bring the coffin or I should prepare food for his celebration”, revealed in turn the relative of the 52-year-old victim.
Fear of vendetta
Perpetrator and victim were relatively distantly related, since they also have the same last name. However, according to testimonies, the two of them had old conflicts, possibly over property. A relative of both spoke from his side to Live News, and hoped that the case would not develop into a feud.
“They had long ago, they had property and such and they were fighting. He was like family to Pizziri. On the one hand she wanted to protect him, on the other she wanted to tease him. Somewhere they contradicted each other in words, they contradicted each other. He slapped him once,” said the relative of the victim and perpetrator.
And he added: “The day before yesterday at the chestnut festival, the young man was sitting with his company and he went to (the victim) in the company but they were both drunk and he said something to him there and he thought that… He made a sudden movement and thought he was going to take out a pistol (the victim) and the young man drew his own and killed him. The point is not to let things go from one side to the other. Let’s not split in 2 and kill each other. I hope it doesn’t go ahead.”
The lawyer of the 23-year-old perpetrator, Apostolos Lytras, speaking to Live News, pointed out that his principal has apologized to the victim’s family.
“The gun was his father’s. He didn’t have a license himself. I am afraid of a vendetta, because I have some information that there is a great feud. He has regretted his actions and apologized. During his apology on Saturday, he will say what happened,” he said.
At the same time, the victim’s wife said: “One is hiding the other. The plain truth here, you will never know. Let me tell you, I will bury my man in my village. I will not bury him in his village. His village betrayed him. If you ask in his village about my man, they have only bad words to say to you. This is unfair and a shame.”