NEWS

Salonica cabbie sets a new low

A Thessaloniki taxi driver is to stand trial today on charges of beating a pregnant customer so badly that she miscarried shortly afterward. Ilias Xanthopoulos, 39, allegedly assaulted 35-year-old civil servant Fotini Kastanopoulou on Monday following an altercation over whether he should take her all the way to where she wanted to get off. The three-month pregnant woman had asked to be taken to a cemetery in the eastern suburb of Kalamaria. On the way, the taxi driver – illegally – took on another two customers who were heading in roughly the same direction. However, this made it less convenient for Xanthopoulos to take Kastanopoulou all the way to her destination, and he accordingly insisted on letting her off some 200 meters from the cemetery. The woman protested, and Xanthopoulos allegedly punched her in the face. The taxi driver was charged on Wednesday with grievous bodily harm, although at that point the prosecutor had not been informed about the miscarriage.

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