68-Year-Old Man Killed His Roommate Over A Vegetable Garden


A 68-Year-Old man killed his roommate over a vegetable garden and has been sentenced to spend 11 years in prison. Periklis Papadopoulos, of Australia, reportedly stabbed and killed his 72-year-old roommate after an argument about tomato and pepper plants in their garden.

Papadopoulos and his roommate, Andonios Mirtsopoulos, reportedly argued as Papadopoulos planted tomatoes and peppers in an area of the garden he had reserved for himself. The men shared a home, and backyard garden area, in a community for the elderly.

Papadopoulos had enough of the arguing and stabbed his roommate in the chest, killing him. As reported by 9 News National, Victorian Supreme Court Justice Betty King call the roommates “grumpy old men who were intent on being unpleasant and difficult towards each others.”

Judge King then sentenced the man to spend the next 11 years in prison for stabbing and killing his roommate. She stated that he deliberately provoked his roommate, then “allowed the unpleasantness to descend” to the point of Mirtsopoulos’ murder. She called the entire situation “appalling.”

The defendant initially denied stabbing his roommate, telling authorities the man ran into the knife an impaled himself. However, Papadopoulos eventually admitted killing his roommate over the vegetables planted in the garden.

He stated that he stabbed him with a knife he was using to clean a pear. A third roommate reported that Papadopoulos said the victim deserved to die and that he knew he would likely go to jail.

He plead guilty in court and has been sentenced to 11 years in jail.

As reported by the Huffington Post, Papadopoulos, a native of Greece, spent 16 years in a Greek prison for a similar crime. In that case he was convicted of murdering his cousin after a day of drinking and hinting. He reportedly shot his cousin after a minor argument.

Authorities felt that Papadopoulos simply has a short temper that led him to kill his roommate over a vegetable garden. The “grumpy old man” will be in prison until he is nearly 80 years old.

[Image via Flickr]

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