A court on Samos yesterday handed down a life sentence on a 33-year-old man from Lesvos after finding him guilty of murdering a woman and burning her in his fireplace.

Yiannis Boutaras will serve life in prison for killing Efstratia Mamolou in January 2002. His wife, Areti Diolatzi, was cleared of murder but was given a jail sentence of 13 years and five months for being an accomplice in Mamolou’s kidnapping.

Diolatzi had earlier described to the court how the couple met their victim at a cafeteria on Lesvos and then began a sexual relationship with her. She said Boutaras became enraged when Mamolou said she wanted to leave the couple’s house, where she had stayed for some time.

aras killed Mamolou by repeatedly striking her with a piece of wood. He then cut up her body and burnt her remains in an iron box in the fireplace of the couple’s home.

Upon hearing the sentence, Boutaras said “voices” and “higher beings” had called on him to accept responsibility for his actions.