Terrible news from Hydra

[Dem]

The facts so far:

Manolis died according to the coroner from asphyxiation
with simultaneous cardiac arrest.
He had also bruises in his face and body.

It seems a couple of Georgians (man and woman)
managed to escape from Hydra early on Sunday morning
with a water taxi taking with them the loot (money and jewels).
Police is searching for them in the southern suburbs of Athens.

Another five Georgians tried to escape with a second water taxi
but in the meantime police had been notified by Mrs Christina
and ordered the taxi to return to the port of Hydra. It seems
there are fingerprints that connect some of the five with the crime.

Two waiters of the tavern, also of Georgian descent, are detained by the police
although as of now it is not clear if they are involved in the robbery.

PS) A detail from the news: Manolis used to give away the surplus food
of the tavern in the end of the day to poor people in the neighborhood.

Dem

[oblivion]

Maybe someone could copy Nicolas´s last writing on Facebook.(i can´t)and put it here.
it´s about the funeral, as Demetris mentioned before he always gave to the poor the pope said.
Christina needs psychological support to come over the traumatical situation she had witnessed,
i don´t know if their children live on Hydra to be near her. they caught five robbers, from a picture i saw i don´t remember
any of them, the waiters i know from this and last summer look different.
is soo incredible cruel and sad, the raw brutality unbelievable...but i´m afraid we will
here more like this since the difference between rich and poor is increasing.
like nicolas said he is a victim of the crisis in many ways.
ute

[Wybe]

From Nicolas:

A lot of people at Manoli's funeral.The major's speech very good,but the best was Bishop's speech.,excellent.We inform that Manolis use to help ,poor people ,never said that he help poor people but Bishop knew that from the poor. ones.........The Georgians robbers were seven all together.Police catched five.Now we know who did the crime but it is too late for Manolis.The only good is that they are going to pay ,for the crime they have done......

[harald]

really terrible incident ... also my condolences to Christina ... we´ve been at the restaurant in June ... thanks Jarkko for promptly sending flowers ... a minor point: Jarkko, I really would apreciate it, if you took the costs of the flowers from our bench funds, we were going to spend the surplus on Hydra anyway, this way we could at least feel we all had expressed our feelings a tiny little bit in a situation which I am afraid cannot be helped much by us

[jarkko]

Eija and I were to share the costs with Willy&Wijbe and Henning&Elke, but if Harald's idea gets support it can be made that way, too.

[Goldin]

When we have discussed the usage of the fund, surely we haven't put into account any tragic events. If we can express our condolences or provide any help to Cristina and her family, this is much more important than anything else.

[bogra]

Of course we agree with Harald, Jarkko! A very good cause to spend our money! We all feel so much pain for Cristina and family!

[HelenD]

I agree, we should use the surplus funds to help Cristina in any way we can.

[lizzytysh]

I'm in full agreement, as well, Jarkko. Our funds won't go far in assisting her in the ways she's going to need, but at LEAST we can TRULY feel we've taken part. Our sentiments have surely been there, but having our own contributions be there is so much better for feeling truly involved during this terrible time when we all feel so heartbroken and helpless.

I've wondered how Greek insurance compares to ours here [presuming they had it] and what, if any, recourse there is when any cash, much less large amounts of cash are stolen. The jewels are another matter and, hopefully, they had some kind of documentation or photos of those. Yet, I suspect they had to NEVER have expected this on Hydra.

I have to believe that there will be contributions and maybe even some fundraisers for Cristina; yet, for our part, using our surplus funds for the flowers and then for whatever else is a wonderful idea. Leonard wouldn't have even been attached to how the usage of them would be to begin with. I think we had mentioned his Israeli-Palestinian charity at some point for them, but I've no doubt that he would feel the same as Harald, you, and now the growing number of us regarding this immediate usage.


~ Lizzie

[LC&LC]

Absolutely Jarkko, please use the surplus of the funds for the bench...
thank you for having organised the flower delivery, just a small gesture to show Cristina how much we are shocked and saddened by what has happened
barbarity has reached the peaceful Hydra now

[UrPal]

I'd agree with that too.

Any chance of setting up a forum members' online collection similar to the bench one specifically to provide some funds to help Christina? Perhaps we could use the same online payment mechanism, though I can't remember what it was now. I appreciate that this is not of "Cohen fan" general interest, but, based on my own reaction to this news, I would expect that those forum members who have travelled to Hydra a few times and met Christina and Manolis in the past would want to do what little we can to help.

[cohenadmirer]

It will take christina a long time to begin to come to terms with this terrible trauma and personal loss,and full emotional recovery may not even be possible.Sending flowers is just a gesture but always helpful.
Further to this anything that can be done to minimise or eliminate financial loss should be done since obviously financial stresses just make everything worse. Very happy that surplus forum funds for the bench , to which like many others i contributed a small amount. be used for this - though the greatest hope is that they had adequate insurance .Perhaps they didn't .
I cant imagine anyone who contributed to those funds dissenting from any decision jarkko might make about this . urpal's idea about a new specific fund is worth considering .

[Mabeanie1]

Personally I believe there should be a separate fund since a wide range of people contributed to the bench and they will not all be in a position to see this discussion and consent to the use of the money they donated in honour of Leonard's 80th birthday for this purpose.

Wendy

[its4inthemorning]

I feel that any surplus in the bench fund should be applied to Hydra nonprofit organization(s) that benefit the overall community, not just one family. If any good people here, and I know there are many, wish to organize a separate fund for this new and very shocking cause, that would be the way to help.

4

[Goldin]

I beg your pardon, its4inthemorning, and I'm so sorry for spoiling this thread with an argument, but - do you mean that nonprofit organization (HydraArk; viewtopic.php?f=83&t=35233&start=105#p347019)?
Raising another fund is a good idea, but if we still have some extra money "after the Bench", and the human beings have real problems - should we care that much about cats?