[imagesource: Instagram / @flying.babis]

When a new start-up cracks the news, it’s often referred to as ‘the Uber of’ whatever field it operates in.

Recently, we saw the launch of South Africa’s ‘Uber Black for funerals’, and a scan of headlines from the past month reveals China’s ‘Uber for trucks’, ‘the Uber of property management’, and ‘Uber for lawn care‘.

In short, Uber is now a barometer against which other on-demand tech start-ups are measured (which is not always a good thing).

When it comes to somebody who has murdered their partner, Oscar Pistorius appears to be the go-to comparison.

Take for example this Daily Mail’s headline – From crocodile tears to a confession: How the net closed on ‘Greek Oscar Pistorius’.

Essentially, teeing up Oscar’s name in the headline establishes that nobody believes the story being told by the accused.

That’s according to Seth, our resident start-up expert.

Let’s dig deeper into the story of 33-year-old Charalambos Anagnostopoulos, who first said his wife, 20-year-old Caroline Crouch, was murdered by a gang of burglars:

It was a little before 6am on May 11 when police sirens broke the early-morning calm in Glyka Nera, an upmarket suburb of Athens…

They had been sent there by a neighbour who received a disturbing call from what sounded like Charalambos just minutes earlier. His voice was muffled, but she was sure that something was terribly wrong.

Image: Instagram / @flying.babis

When officers made it inside, the scene that greeted them inside was the stuff of nightmares: a seven-month old husky puppy hanged from a banister, Caroline’s body sprawled on the bed upstairs with clothing stuffed in her mouth, her 11-month old daughter beside her, hitting her in a vain attempt to wake her up.

Charalambos, known as ‘Babis’ to friends and family, told police that he had been forced to listen to his wife’s murder, as he was tied up and blindfolded in the neighbouring room.

Police say they suspected that Babis was behind the murder from the start, but played along with his story so as “not to spook him”.

In fact, officers compared Babis to a ‘Greek Oscar Pistorius’, noting his ‘coldness’ as they arrived at the scene of the crime.

Then, last Wednesday, they brought him on the pretence that his help was needed in identifying a new suspect, before he was subjected to hours of interrogation.

Babis eventually confessed to the murder, according to police, who also had evidence from various devices.

We covered this last week, but let’s go over that once more:

• The biometric watch that Crouch wore on her wrist, which recorded a pulse at a time when her husband’s testimony should have shown that there was no sign of life for the 20-year-old.
• The timing of the removal of the memory cards from the security cameras of the house, which laboratory data shows happened at a different time than what Anagnostopoulos stated in his original testimony to the police.
• The “suspicious” activity recorded on his cellphone at the time of the murder when he claimed to have been tied up and immobilised.

The tracker on his mobile phone showed movement, contrary to his claim that he had been tied down by intruders.

There was also negligible evidence that robbers had been on the scene, with no DNA, fingerprints, or any other sign present typical of a robbery.

Ultimately, Babis’ story came crashing down, and having initially enjoyed the Greek public’s sympathy, he is now looking at a long time behind bars.

[source:dailymail]