A 35-year-old businessman from the Skala area of Laconia in the Peloponnese was in police custody last night after allegedly stabbing his mother and sister to death in a sudden fit of rage.

Officers said the suspect, who was not named, is the owner of a water bottling firm who had been on the way to see a customer with his 65-year-old mother when the pair apparently began to argue. The woman was chased along the road and stabbed repeatedly in front of the headquarters of Skala’s agricultural cooperative. The suspect then drove home and stabbed his 32-year-old sister to death.

Police cordoned off the area where the two stabbings took place and arrested the businessman near the town of Areopoli. He is set to undergo psychological tests to establish whether the apparently unprovoked attacks were triggered by a mental problem.