"It was a great relief for me to show my new image," writes Joanna Paliospirou, thanking those who stood by her side during her ordeal.
Now she poses without a mask, smiling.
With her post on Instagram, which immediately gathered thousands of likes and comments, Joanna thanked all those who hugged her and emphasised that the road is still long. But she herself is filled with strength by the presence of those who support her.
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She writes in her post:
"Despite the anxiety I felt, it was a great relief for me to show my new look.
Thank you all very much for embracing me with so much warmth and acceptance.
"The road is still long, but for me it was an important step and it fills me with so much power that I know that you are by my side and you support me every time.
"This is a blessing!"
37-year-old Efi Kakarantzoula was sentenced to 15 years in prison in October 2021 for the attempted murder of Joanna Paliospirou with acid in the Athens suburb of Kallithea in May 2020.
At the time, prosecutor Charalambos Mastrantonakis said the attacker executed her criminal plan “in a calculated manner. She had vile motives, murderous egoism and moral pettiness.”
He stressed that the type of acid that Kakarantzoula used and the way she executed her crime “leaves no doubt about her murderous intent.”
“The defendant did not want to ruin the face of Joanna [the victim], she ruined her life,” Mastrantonakis continued.
“When she threw the acid in her face, she accepted that it could be inhaled, swallowed, find its way to her trachea, and kill her,” he said, adding: “it was revenge that accepted the risk of death.”
Kakarantzoula claimed during the trial that she had no intent of killing Paliospirou.
She explained that stalked Paliospirou after suspecting her of dating a man with whom she had embarked on a sexual relationship in 2018.
She admitted to going to significant lengths to procure vitriol to the survivor’s place of work in an office building, saying she paid a man she met outside a shop in downtown Athens to get it for her.
READ MORE: Joanna Paliospirou in a new post poses next to her snowman.
