Greek trial over killed Australian begins

Four Greek nightclub staff accused of fatally beating a young Australian tourist a year ago went on trial Wednesday on the Aegean island of Lesbos, a judicial source said.
A 25-year-old club bouncer has been charged with voluntary homicide and three other staff have been charged as accessories in the death of 20-year-old Doujon Zammit, who was badly beaten outside the Tropicana club on the popular holiday island of Mykonos last July.
“We are putting our faith and trust in the Greek justice system, and its lovely people who have supported us so far, to send out the right message that this is not Greek behaviour that these men have shown,” Zammit’s father Oliver told reporters on Lesbos.
“And this behaviour is not going to be tolerated and accepted and they will be punished for what they did,” he said.
The family will be seeking a conviction for all four defendants, their lawyer Alexis Kougias told reporters.
A fifth suspect, who was underage at the time, will be tried by a minors’ court.
Zammit was one of six Australians caught up in the incident.
They were suspected by bouncers of having stolen bags and wallets in the nightclub, an accusation later dismissed by police.
After the attack, Zammit was taken to hospital in critical condition but later died after his life support was turned off with his father’s approval.
The case shocked Greece, both over the brutality of the attack and over the subsequent stance of Oliver Zammit who praised Greeks as “good people”.
Hundreds of Mykonos residents later gathered at the island’s harbour to denounce the killing.
Oliver Zammit donated his son’s heart, kidneys, liver and lungs to four people, including a 30-year-old Greek Australian.
The Red Cross hospital where Zammit died later decided to give his name to one of its intensive care units.
(source: APF)