John Macris’s widow tells of how children learned of his murder

The widow of slain Australian gangster John Macris has revealed details of how the couple’s children learned of their father’s death. Model Viktoria Karida spoke of her heartbreak as new details emerged about the case involving her husband’s alleged killers.

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The children of slain Australian gangster John Macris learned the truth about their father’s execution by watching a clip on YouTube, his grieving widow has revealed.

Viktoria Karida told of her heartbreak in hearing her primary school-aged kids Alexandra and Achilles say they knew he had been murdered, as the Sydneysider’s accused killers claimed there were holes in the case against them.

The Bulgarian brothers, charged with the professional hit on Macris outside his house in Athens in 2018, will face court in Greece next Wednesday, July 1.

Alexandros Lykourezos, the defence lawyer for Yuliyanov J Raychev Serafim and Milen Raychev, told News Corp that the police case contained errors, arguing they were tourists, not killers.

Viktoria Karida and John Macris at their 2016 wedding on the Greek island of Mykonos.

The prosecution has 19 witnesses, while the defence will only call three. There is CCTV of the murder.

In a translated interview with Greek newspaper Proto Thema, Ms Karida explained her two children recently searched their father’s name online and discovered the horrible truth.

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“Three weeks ago, my daughter heard or saw something and searched via Google for her father’s name,” she said.

“She watched and cried a lot … came to my room and said, ‘Mum, we know the truth. We

saw the video … ”. I was petrified … I found the courage and told them that ‘Dad was killed

by robbers. He went out of the house and they killed him. That’s what they know so far.”

Macris’s father Stelios told News Corp on Thursday morning that he was waiting on more details about the case.

Karida, a former model, live in Greece with the couple’s children. Picture: Instagram.

A photo of the Macris family shared by Viktoria on her Instagram account.

“I can’t go to Europe, I know nothing about the case,” he said.

Macris, a convicted drug dealer with links to organised crime in Sydney, had moved to Greece and set up a security company.

The 46 year old was murdered outside his luxury home in the Athens suburb of Voula, in the hills overlooking the seaside town of Glyfada on October 31, 2018.

A gunman fired shots into his small black car, with the final bullet fired just centimetres from his window.

The car had been parked outside his security-clad house that night on the street, video footage shows and police later found six 9mm bullet casings.

Macris was gunned down in the chest in a seaside suburb of Athens. Picture: Proto Thema

Police arrested Serafim in April last year after finding a receipt in a hotel room for clothes that matched those worn by the killer in the video.

The car that police allege the brothers were driving was seen on Macris’s security camera regularly passing the property on a narrow hillside road, with police claiming that they stalked him for 19 days.

Serafim left Greece the day after Macris’s murder, returning to Bulgaria.

He came back to Greece in March last year and had rented a car again in his own name and passport, appearing to follow a similar pattern of behaviour that had police concerned there may be another hit.

Raychev was arrested in August 2019 after he was extradited from Bulgaria.

Mr Lykourezos reinforced his plan to argue in court that the pair were too dumb to be professional killers.

Professional Bulgarian hitman, Yuliyanov J. Raychev Serafim, 31, has been charged with Macris’s murder. Picture: Nikos Christofakis for News Corp Australia

“They came to Greece by air with their real documents, their real names and their

passports,” he told News Corp in a translated interview.

“They rented three different cars using their real documents, names, cards.

“So, please do tell me which professional hit man worldwide is behaving like this?”

Serafim said from his prison cell in Greece that he was “not a murderer”.

“The accusation is crazy. I have nothing to do with crime, I did nothing wrong. I did not know Macris and of course I was not motivated to kill him,” he told Star in Greece.

“That’s why they haven’t found any money transfers, no connections, no incentives and no

connection with Macris. I have confidence in Greek Justice that it will listen to me, will

declare my innocence and allow me to see my baby and family again.”

Ms Karida, a former playboy model, said she had confidence in the Greek justice system.

“I don’t know how I will react when I’ll face the [accused] killers. I’ve thought about various things. I don’t know if I will find the strength to stand up to [those] who [allegedly] deprived my children of their father,” she said.

“I have mixed feelings. I do not want to talk to them. After all, I have nothing to say to them … Just a simple ‘why did they do it? How could they get a human life? To kill a man who had a wife and children? How can they sleep at night? My children are crying and asking for their father.”

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Originally published as John Macris’s widow tells of how children learned of his murder