Messolonghi: Two Greek-Americans found innocent for the theft of a helicopter

More specifically, according to what was heard at the Messolonghi Single-Member Court, a woman filed a police report for the theft of a helicopter from the Messolonghi airport where the flying vehicle was parked.

However, the story had begun much earlier when the owner of the helicopter in question and other flying vehicles passed away and all of this passed to his sister. In the meantime, the owner of these vehicles had also created a flying school that trained new pilots. His sister, who lived in America, came to Greece to manage the inheritance. At some point, she decided to sell the helicopter.

The two businessmen were informed of this and wanted to buy it. After they made contact with the owner and agreed on the payment method, they started giving the money and took the helicopter that was at the Messolonghi airport and transported it to Karpenisi where they owned a property that also had a helipad.

The woman learned that the helicopter had “left” Messolonghi and so she went to the police to report the incident. In fact, as the police themselves said, they initially could not believe that an entire helicopter had been stolen and it took a while for them to explain what was happening. After the police investigation, the helicopter was found and a lawsuit was filed ex officio for embezzlement of a high-value object.

However, the crux of the matter was whether or not the buyers paid the agreed amount. The owner of the helicopter claimed that the amount of 20,000 euros was agreed upon on the condition that they would also buy a small plane for 23,000 euros, otherwise the price of the helicopter was 23,000 euros. In short, with the purchase of two aircraft, one had a discount.

The defendants claimed that they paid the money that was agreed upon and that the agreement was not the one that the complainant claimed. Furthermore, all these years, from 2014 when the sale and purchase began until today, she herself did not withdraw from the sale since she saw that the agreed amount was not paid and this was in favor of the defendants because, as their defense lawyer Christos Paisios said, it means that there was no reason to withdraw.

The Court accepted the defendants' allegations and found them innocent.