Roula Pispirigou, a mother accused of killing her three children, is on trial in Greece on Monday.
She will be present in the dock on Monday. Roula Pispirigou, a 34-year-old mother, is on trial for the murder of her three little girls in Greece. If the “Peloponissos” confirms that the hearings should start today, the trial could already be postponed at the request of the defendant’s lawyer. The latter, a registered nurse, has maintained her innocence since her arrest in March 2022.
The investigation began after 9-year-old Georgina died in 2022. Experts determined that the child died after taking ketamine, a psychotropic drug used as a fast-acting anesthetic in surgery or at the vet. The autopsy revealed that she had received approximately 6.5 mg of this product per liter of blood, a dose that her doctors had not prescribed.
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At the time of her death, the little girl was in a children’s hospital, where she had been cared for since her mother, who is paraplegic, had first allegedly attempted murder.
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That day the mother would have taken her daughter to the hospital when she showed no pathological signs. After an examination, the doctors decided to send her home, which the mother refused. His health then suddenly deteriorated due to “external causes”. When the doctor and two nurses entered the room, they said they found the nine-year-old pale, pulseless, leaking urine, dilated pupils and unresponsive. “Then doctors successfully tried CPR, thanks to which she survived, but as a result of the attack on her, she suffered from hypoxic encephalopathy, which led to paralysis in all four limbs,” the study reads.
The deaths of two other little girls
After that report was compiled, investigators made several damning discoveries for the mother. First, it was revealed that Georgina’s body was buried along with “her favorite thing,” a computer that was unearthed last April. The Daily Beast, quoting a source interviewed by local media in August, said the computer contained Google searches related to ketamine or other similar drugs. For its part, the Peloponissos added at the time that the mother had brought a technician to her home to have all digital searches removed from her house. A charge she denies.
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After all these revelations, police decided to investigate the deaths of their other two daughters, Iris and Malena, aged six months and three years, in 2021 and 2019 respectively. Malena was being treated for leukemia, and her death was initially thought to be related to liver failure.
However, according to prosecutors, such a sudden death would only have been possible if the little girl, who was the subject of extensive medical surveillance, had been terminally ill, which was not the case. As for the death of little Iris – who he initially said her heart had failed – traces of blood were found in her mouth, which prosecutors say is evidence her death was a criminal act. The blood would be associated with the body’s postmortem rigidity, suggesting that death would have occurred several hours before the mother called for help.
Flowers and messages honoring the little girls killed in Greece. SIPA / © Intime/Athena Pictures/Shutterst
In her defence, the defendant insists that the girls died of pathological causes, and in particular that the marks on the faces of Iris and Malena were made after their deaths during the attempted resuscitation. In particular, she is hoping for testimonies from doctors, nurses and emergency services, who said they saw no marks on the children’s faces when they arrived at the scene. Overall, the 34-year-old’s defensive tactics will be based on the fact that she and her parents suffer from an autoimmune disease that has caused serious health problems and has also affected their children.
A big emotion in Greece
The case has caused great emotions in Greece, where such news is very rare. Roula Pispirigkou is officially charged under Greek law with “premeditated homicide in a calm state of mind”. This criminal case earned the accused the nickname “Medea of Patras” in the national and international media.
A reference to Medea, a character from Greek mythology known for her art of medicine and poisons, who is implicated in a series of murders, including her two sons. The mother of the family is being held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison. Through her lawyers, she denounces the media treatment of this story. Before she was officially charged, she had nevertheless agreed to go on television to talk about her daughters.
Back when the deaths were still believed to be related to health issues, Roula Pispirigkou had appeared on screen several times to publicize the dramas of her life and spark a wave of support across the country. She explained on camera that she needed answers after the death of her children, which she described as “mysterious”, and said experts were “looking for rare genes” in her family.
A month after Georgina’s death, Roula Pispirigkou and her husband Manos Daskalakis gave their very first interview. “In the labs they’re looking for the rare gene that caused the deaths and from what they told me they may never find it,” she said on Star TV. “We want answers about what happened to our daughters,” added Manos Daskalakis. The public then felt cheated for supporting this woman. “She feels like she’s being attacked from everywhere, that she’s in the public eye and that she’s being treated unfairly in relation to the allegations and her image as it appears in the media,” her lawyer told ANT1.
Her husband, with whom she is now separated and who initially supported her, now sides with prosecutors and said last April: “The evidence is irrefutable. It’s too much”. The “Peloponissos” points out that Roula Pispirigou is currently preparing a lawsuit against the latter.