The lawyer of the 26-year-old driver’s family, who became the victim of a car crash at dawn on Friday, speaks of claims that “defy common sense.” The 45-year-old woman, driving a black Porsche, slammed into the young woman’s car on the Thessaloniki–Moudania highway, leaving both the 26-year-old and her boyfriend in the passenger seat seriously injured.

Responding to the 45-year-old defendant’s claims that she had not consumed alcohol before getting behind the wheel of the luxury car, that she had not been speeding, and that she had not abandoned the crash site, the family’s lawyer, Panagiotis Vrettos, tells protothema.gr that the investigation will reveal the truth, but the defendant’s statements “are far from reality.”

“Every defendant has the right to a defense and to say whatever they want. Beyond that, there are things that contradict common sense. My assessment is that what is being said in her defense does not stand up to common sense,” Mr. Vrettos comments. “The fact is she left and abandoned the scene of the accident. From our experience, a driver who has consumed alcohol and knows they’ll be tested chooses to leave. Wrongly so, because every driver is obliged to stay and notify the police; otherwise, it’s a criminal offense. My estimation is that the lady chose to leave because she knew that if the police arrived at the scene, one of their first actions would be to test her for alcohol,” he stresses.

Regarding the defense’s argument that her blood tests showed no alcohol consumption and that her breathalyzer result was 0.08, Mr. Vrettos points out that the key factor is the timing of the measurement. “Alcohol metabolizes and leaves the body with every passing hour. In police sampling tests, when a breathalyzer was done some time later, they added 0.18 for every hour. That means if the test was conducted six hours later, the result automatically translates to over 1.0 – four times the legal limit of 0.25,” he notes.

On the question of speed, Mr. Vrettos stresses that it was “clearly significant.” “It is absolutely obvious that her speed was very high, over 150 km/h. The limit on that stretch of road is 90 km/h, meaning she exceeded it by at least 60 km/h. I personally believe she was driving over 180 km/h. All of this will be confirmed during the police investigation,” he adds.

The victims’ condition
As for the 26-year-old woman, she remains hospitalized in the ICU at AHEPA Hospital, though her life is not in danger. In addition to multiple fractures and lung damage, doctors noted a troubling development: while her condition initially seemed to be improving, her hematocrit levels later dropped.

The 28-year-old passenger also remains hospitalized with spinal fractures, though his condition is considered better than that of his 26-year-old girlfriend.

The legal process
Tomorrow, Tuesday, the 45-year-old Porsche driver is due to testify before the investigating magistrate. Prosecutors have charged her with multiple felonies: dangerous driving that could endanger human life, repeated bodily harm by negligence, abandoning the scene of an accident, and driving under the influence of drugs.

The last charge arose because she admitted to having taken a sedative pill, though later she claimed it was administered at the hospital after the crash.

Following the charges, she was referred to the 3rd special investigating magistrate, from whom she requested and received time to prepare her defense.

It should be recalled that the 45-year-old was located on Friday, about six hours after the crash, at her home. She was brought in by Thessaloniki Traffic Police, where she admitted that she was the driver of the Porsche at the time of the collision, in which the two victims had to be extricated from their wrecked car.

The defendant denies abandoning the scene, claiming instead that a friend drove her to the hospital and later notified the police, though she insists she had not realized she had collided with another vehicle.

She also denies having consumed alcohol or driving at excessive speed.