Melbourne-born Theodosis Kakouris volunteered to help fight the wildfires in Attica, Greece back in August 2021 but his altruistic act did not yield the desired outcome.
Not only did his efforts remain unacknowledged, he actually ended up being arrested as a suspect for arson.
Mr Kakouris remanded in custody for 11 months, until 11 July, when he was unanimously found not guilty by an Athens court.
“I’m not celebrating, I’m bitter and need time to adjust,” the Greek Australian who has been calling Athens home since the age of 8, told Ekathimerini.
The 44-year-old, had reportedly been watching the Olympics on TV on 3 August last year and the program was interrupted by an emergency alert reporting the fire in Varibobi, East Attica.
Without overthinking he got dressed and rushed to the nearest fire-front transporting a horse from the Varibobi Equestrian Club to safety by wrapping his towel around its neck, followed by helping local residents save their houses until the soles of his shoes melted from the high temperature. Seeing he was barefoot, one of the residents gave him a pair of boots to wear, according to the report.
Mr Kakouris rested at the end of 4 August and in the early hours of August 6, returned to volunteer. A car of volunteers roadblocked him, and without asking handed him over to police officers.
“I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong,” he said, explaining that there had been a report on a suspect on a motorbike similar to his.
When the witness was called to identify him, he testified that it was not the same man he had seen, nor was it the same vehicle.
Even though no evidence was found on him during his arrest or during further investigation Mr Kakouris was put in custody over the testimony of the main prosecution witness, another volunteer who claimed that from the points where Mr Kakouris passed by him, new fires broke out.
“We had a lot of flare-ups and he would show up very often after each flare-up,” she claimed, while testifying that she never saw Mr Kakouris set a fire.
In his defense, a resident insisted that “He put his heart and soul into helping put out the fire. I rule out a man who helped so much to have any involvement in causing fires.”
“With his help, we saved four of the five houses in the block,” added another resident of Varibobi who was a lawyer by profession and had taken videos and photos showing Mr Kakouris volunteering.
Despite the only evidence showing Mr Kakouris assisting rescuers and residents or saving local wildlife, the Greek Australian man remained in custody for arson with intent on three occasions.
He was essentially accused of starting the Krioneri cemetery fire on 4 August and two more blazes that devastated the Madri area of Krioneri on 6 August.
The Greek Fire Department actually notified the Prosecutor’s Office that the fire in Varibobi started from a high-voltage pillar, citing “faulty control and maintenance” as the cause.
Mr Kakouris was then transferred to Korydallos prison, where predominantly foreign prisoners are kept. In shock, he avoided leaving his cell and went into the yard for the first time after the first 21 days of his sentence had passed. Two months into his sentence, he started working in the prison canteen.
“I tried to fill my everyday life, to get a routine so that I didn’t think about it and let it get me down. Whenever I thought about it, I felt enormous bitterness,” he said.
It wasn’t until his attorneys Nikolaos Loukopoulos and Thrasyvoulos Kontaxis presented the full report of hard evidence from the Fire Department that Mr Kakouris was found unanimously not guilty by three judges.
“The chief justice spoke of a miscarriage of justice and wished me to continue helping, to be myself. I do not know if I can do that. I don’t want to be somewhere with a lot of people.”
“I can talk about it but I don’t know if it helps me or if it makes me stay trapped in this situation. For so long in prison I sought my freedom and while I have obtained it, I still have a long way to go. I won’t go near a fire again. Only if it erupted near me, at 50 or 100 meters, would I go to help,” Mr Kakouris said.