Every night for the past four years, Zoe Holohan has been haunted by nightmares and nightmares of the Greek forest fire that killed her beloved husband and changed her life forever.
tomorrow the former advertising executive from Dublin will make the difficult journey and travel back to Athens. She is preparing to testify in the trial of officials charged over the devastating blaze, which killed 102 people and injured hundreds.
She admits she is “filled with dread” at the prospect of the daunting ordeal of testifying, but hopes it will finally bring her some peace, saying: “I want to tell the truth as it happened on that horrific day.”
Ms Holohan and her husband Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp were on their honeymoon in July 2018, just four days after their wedding, as devastating bushfires approached their villa in the seaside town of Mati, outside Athens.
Zoe Holohan and Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp on their wedding day. Photo: Andrzej Chorazyczewski
The couple fled, rescuing four children along the way as they ran from the flames, and were rescued by a passing driver. Since there was no room left in the car when the children were in it, Mrs. Holohan and Mr. O’Callaghan-Westropp squeezed into the open trunk.
However, a huge burning branch collided with the car and Mr. O’Callaghan Westropp fell out and was tragically lost to the flames.
Ms. Holohan was saved minutes before her own certain death by “a shadow of a man who came through the wall of fire.” He was volunteer firefighter Manos Tsaliagos, whom she hopes to meet when she returns to Athens.
She also hopes to be reunited there with her plastic surgeon, Mr. Georgis Moutoglis.
“He was the one who saved my life, my hand, my legs and put my face back together. He is an absolute angel and the person I depended on to keep me alive.”
Every night, tired as he was after his shift at the hospital, Mr. Moutoglis came into her room to see if she was asleep. You become childish when you are in that situation.
“He is an intensely kind man and I have kept in touch with him.”
Ms Holohan says she is giving testimony at the trial in honor of her beloved husband of just four days, explaining: “I want to remind people that Brian was a very important person to so many people. I don’t want him to be forgotten.”
She will make the journey back to Greece with the older brother whom she calls her ‘bodyguard’.
The 21 defendants on trial in the fire include the former local governor, as well as senior officials from the municipality, civil defence, fire and police.
A 65-year-old man suspected of starting the bushfires after burning wood in his yard is also facing charges.
It won’t be her first time since Brian’s death – she returned to Athens in early December 2019 to give her first testimony in the preliminary investigation.
“It was actually an extremely cathartic moment for me,” she said, of the chance to tell her story in its entirety that day, explaining that she feels like she’s come a long way in her recovery since then.
“I struggled with post-traumatic stress, with flashbacks, and the nightmares never went away — every night that haunting doesn’t just go away.”
“But when I went and gave my first testimony, I felt a huge lift, as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders as I spent four and a half hours describing every little detail.”
She especially says she appreciated being able to tell the judge about her husband, Brian, whom she calls her “soulmate.”
Halfway through her testimony in court about his actions in rescuing the children that day, everyone in court was emotional, including her interpreter, who cried as she told her, “Please, it’s in writing – your husband was a hero.” . He got those kids to safety.”
“He saved those kids’ lives while we were trying to escape. What a wonderful person,” Zoe said.
“He wanted to make the world a better place and he had tremendous kindness. To this day I am contacted by people influenced by him who tell me things like, “he got me a job.” He was just one of those people who quietly and constantly helped others behind the scenes. That’s who I fell in love with. I want people to understand that this wasn’t just some Joe Soap. He was important.’
Not being a Greek citizen, she feels it is “not appropriate” for her to comment on the behavior of the local government in the run-up to the fire.
She admits that while some of the information that came out after the fire has left her feeling “very angry,” she tries very hard not to let anger rule her life.
“But there are a lot of people who are very angry because lives have been taken, there have been life-changing injuries, homes have been destroyed and livelihoods — everything was with nuclear weapons,” she said.