A 40-year-old father of three is recovering in hospital after being stabbed in the face with a screwdriver by a 25-year-old delivery driver during a violent confrontation on Iera Odos, one of Athens’ main roads.
The incident occurred after a minor traffic dispute at a stop sign. The driver, speaking from his hospital bed, described how a simple exchange of words escalated within seconds into a brutal attack that nearly cost him his eye.
Victim’s account: “He came straight at me with the screwdriver”
“I didn’t even realize he was holding a screwdriver,” the victim told Greek television channel MEGA. “He came up to my car and stabbed me three times — twice in the eye and once through the nose. The doctors told me I escaped losing my eye by a fraction of a millimeter.”
The man, who remains hospitalized with facial fractures and stitches, said he was left in shock both physically and emotionally. “He came out of nowhere — it all happened in seconds,” he added.
Attacker’s long criminal record revealed
The attacker, a 25-year-old delivery driver, fled the scene immediately after the assault but turned himself in to police the following day. Prosecutors have charged him with felony-level intentional grievous bodily harm.
Authorities later revealed that the suspect has a long history of arrests — 19 in total since 2015 — for a range of serious offenses, including:
- Assault, theft, and weapons violations
- Domestic violence and threats against his father in 2023
- Kidnapping and sexual offenses involving minors in 2021
- Possession of explosives in 2020
- Drug offenses and robbery in previous years
Despite his record, the man was working as a delivery driver without a valid license. Records show he had been caught driving without a license five times in the past year, most recently in April 2025.
Calls for accountability
The victim’s lawyer said the case highlights serious systemic failures. Initially, police filed a misdemeanor charge, but after legal intervention, it was upgraded to a felony.
“I cannot understand why someone with this background was still free — and why the police first treated this as a minor case,” he said. He also noted that this is the fourth serious violent crime involving a delivery worker he has encountered in the past year.
Investigation continues
The 25-year-old suspect has been granted a short extension to prepare his defense and is expected to testify before an investigative judge on Tuesday. The victim remains hospitalized, receiving ongoing medical care for his eye and facial injuries, and has called for the attacker’s exemplary punishment.
