A 67-year-old martial arts teacher who allegedly sexually molested a 9-year-old girl in 2013 in Thessaloniki was found guilty of child abuse.
However, the 67-year-old was given extenuating circumstances of previous lawful life and subsequent good behaviour.
The probation was given on the conditions of supervision by a social worker and a ban on approaching the sufferer.
In his apology, the accused claimed that he kissed the girl but by mistake. "I had no malicious intent, it was a misunderstanding," he said.
At first instance he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and his appeal was suspended.
Mother lashes out
The 9-year-old girl's mother says she is furious. The man she says destroyed her family and her child's life was found guilty of seducing her underage daughter, but was released.
The Mixed Jury Court of Appeal of Thessaloniki, where the case was heard in the second instance, suspended the sentence for 3 years, on the conditions that he will be monitored by a social worker and will not approach the victim.
The mother of the just 9-year-old primary school student in Thessaloniki, unravels the tangle of a case that she says has torn them apart as a family. "This man molested my daughter twice and from the day we reported him until a few years ago, he never stopped passing under our house and reminding us every day of the torture he subjected us to." At the same time, she expresses her anger at the court decision. The defendant was found guilty but was released on probation.
"I could never understand how a man who was denounced and then convicted of this offence could continue to teach children. Indeed, it is incomprehensible that even today after his second degree conviction he is still teaching young boys and girls. He just changed his area and went to Mudania."
He kissed her on the mouth
The mother describes how the now 67-year-old Tae Kwon Do teacher pushed and kissed her daughter on the mouth when she was only 8.5 years old. "All of Tuba knows that this man repeatedly molested children. I asked many parents to come forward to testify but they were either afraid or simply did not want to do so. Today this man teaches at a school in Mudania and while he was convicted, he was simply banned from coaching matches."
"My daughters when they were six years old, in 2011, wanted to enroll with my goddaughter in a Tae Kwon Do school that is very close to my house, in Kato Toumba. From the very first moment the teacher singled out my daughter and kept calling her his "champion". As is understandable, the child was thrilled with this attention and continued the sport at a competitive level," he says."
"In the spring of 2013, the coach informed us that because Nikoleta had a lot of potential he wanted to take care of her himself, arranging private lessons for her for free on Saturdays."
"In the spring of 2013, the coach informed us that because Nikoleta had a lot of potential he wanted to take care of her himself, arranging private lessons for her for free on Saturdays. The mother explains that she did the regular training sessions with the 67-year-old's wife but that he had taken over her Saturday training sessions. "When I heard pro bono I was surprised but I said not to be suspicious, so I accepted."
The little girl started the lessons in mid-August 2013 and even had to interrupt her summer holiday at their holiday home. According to the mother, from the very first Saturday, the coach asked her daughter not to discuss what was going on between them and had recommended that she not attend the classes "because it would be hard and I would be upset."
"I don't know how I stood it..."
"But the next Saturday my daughter came home worried but she didn't say anything to me. Two Saturdays later she went to practice and when she came home she sat on the couch for a long time and that's when I knew something was wrong. An hour before she came back, my goddaughter had gone to see her at practice but the coach sent her away."
Then came the moment when the little girl spoke to her mother. "That's when I realized that no parent, no mother is prepared for a statement like that. My other daughter was next door and at the sound of it she started shaking."
Her daughter told her that on the first Saturday the teacher came into the locker room while she was alone and put his hands under her shirt, touching her belly and chest. "She was barely 9 years old, what breasts she must have had!" Then came the next time. "That Saturday this man weighed my daughter and then made her sit on his lap and kissed her on the mouth. I can't remember how I could stand and not collapse upon hearing this statement."
Source: in.gr
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