The initial shock gave way to grief and mourning, as John Marcris’ friends and family gathered to bid farewell at the Saint Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church in Voula, just a short walk from where the businessman – and Sydney underworld identity – had lived and died, shot to the chest and stomach by an unknown man.
For Greek media, Macris was a businessman – and husband to one of the country’s emerging celebrities, model Victoria Karyda – who had been sharing time between Australia and Greece.
For Australian media, he was the infamous Sydney gangster, who had been self-exiled in Greece, in his attempt to avoid the Australian authorities – and his long-time rivals, the notorious Ibrahim family.
At the funeral, another identity was prevailing. That of a father and husband, whose violent death left two children fatherless and had made a widow out of his spouse.
“Dressed in black and Louis Vuitton ankle boots, [Karyda] appeared stoic, cradling her son in her lap, her head resting on his and her face turned away from the mourners, instead facing the empty front of the church. Her signature mane of blonde hair was wound up in a tight bun,” Latika Bourke wrote, in her report on Macris’ funeral, printed in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Now the Ukrainian-Greek model, who was informed of her husband’s violent death, while working at a fashion show, is having to deal with the aftermath of the killing – that is, to assist the authorities in their quest to identify the black-clad person caught on CCTV shooting Macris. The execution-style killing has led to speculation whether the murder is part of an ongoing ‘gang war’ currently taking place in Athens.
Macris’ is being flown in to Sydney, where he will be buried. But the questions around his murder will continue to linger over both Australia and Greece.