Coroners on Monday submitted their report regarding the deaths of two children of a mother who has already been charged with the premeditated murder of her eldest daughter, aged nine.  

The accused for the murder of her 9-year-old daughter, Roula Pispirigou, whose transfer started at 08:50 this morning and ended a few minutes ago, is at the doors of Korydallos prison as of today. Yesterday she was remanded to pre-trial detention after her deposition to the 18th investigator who ruled that the accused is under suspicion for committing new crimes.

Once again, outside the Korydallos prison, there were people who strongly condemned her while the security measures were increased again so that there would be no surprises. "Die murderess", were some of the shouts heard.

Upon hearing the verdict, Roula Pispirigou burst into tears while she allegedly told her lawyers "I am afraid for my life in prison".

Nevertheless, the accused will be temporarily detained in the 6th ward of Korydallos prison - also known as the VIP ward - where she will be held in a specially designed area. In fact, due to concerns for hersafety, the first period she will be in a cell of her own.

Two reasons for detention at Korydallos

Firstly, because the investigation into Georgina's "premeditated murder" continues and further explanations of Roula Pispirigou may be required by the 18th Athens investigator, at the same time that the deaths of her daughter and her other two daughters have already been come under scrutiny.

Secondly, because in the Eleonas prison of Thebes, Roula Pispirigou was an "undesirable", a fact that had been expressed by the approximately 320 inmates of the specific penitentiary, causing a "headache" to the authorities regarding the safety of the 33-year-old.

It is noted that in Korydallos, Pispirigou will be kept in isolation so as not to come into contact with her inmates for reasons of protection.

The 11-page deposition before the interrogator

In the 11-page deposition was handed to the investigator, before the marathon examination began by an investigator and then the prosecutor, the defendant talks about those who "made her accused in the eyes of all of society, apparently to cover up their own responsibilities for the loss of my daughter's life.”

"I completely deny the accusation against me, I never sought, wished or caused the death of my child. No mother can hurt her own child. Georgina was my first child and was my great weakness. Her death, which followed the tragic events that took place at the expense of the other two children who had earlier lost their lives from other causes, came as a final blow to me, while it was also the final blow to my family, the unity of which began after the above tragic events to be shaken to the point that today it has almost been finally dissolved ".

The 33-year-old describes the "facts" on which - as she says - the accusation is based, while she points out that as Georgina's mother, she had to be the one attending to the child at the hospital.

Doctors have testified that Georgina always had all the incidents outside the ICU, and the 33-year-old answers that this happened because the time of hospitalization in the ICUs of each hospital was comparatively short compared to the time of hospitalization in the ward of each pediatric clinic.

She states two reasons why she says that the claim that the ketamine was given by her to the child is unfounded.

According to her statement, "this substance is not available in pharmacies and is distributed exclusively by the competent state bodies in a strictly limited context, only in 2 uses, one of which is Pediatric Surgery. So it is obvious that in the specific pediatric hospital the relevant substance exists and existed at the date of my child's death.”

Her lawyers requested that the investigator investigate whether the hospital ICU had supplied the substance ketamine in the last three years and secondly whether a record is kept of the persons receiving a quantity of the specific substance and in case of a positive response, if the period 27-29 January 2022 a quantity of the substance had been taken from the hospital pharmacy.

Doctors refute Roula Pispirigou

The doctors' report on Georgina's death is flabbergasting. Doctors at Aglaia Kyriakou Children's Hospital refute the 33-year-old's claims that the ketamine was given to the unfortunate Georgina by their own mistake.

"Regarding reports that have been circulating in the last 24 hours that during the hospitalization of the patient Georgina Daskalakis In our Hospital, she received, from our medical or nursing staff, the drug substance" Ketamine ", we confirm that the young patient was never given this substance either as such or as a component of another proprietary drug", the hospital announcement states.

Her deposition to the interrogator

In her deposition, which lasted more than five hours, she denied the allegations. Her main allegation, as stated in her deposition, was that the death of 9-year-old Georgina, in which a large amount of ketamine was found, was most likely due to a medical error.

According to her, Georgina’s incident took place at 14:30 at noon, but the child had a pulse until 15.10. According to the defendant, since the child should have died within 20 minutes, as the experts report concerning the action of ketamine in such a quantity, she has nothing to do with an incident since the child finally succumbed after 40 minutes, and so she was not alone with Georgina.

Regarding the absence of ketamine in the Children's Hospital, the accused allegedly claimed that it is not possible that this substance does not exist in the specific hospital, as it is administered in veterinary medicine and pediatric surgery. However, the administration of "Aglaia Kyriakou" Children’s Hospital refuted these allegations, with the hospital governor, Manolis Papasavvas, emphasizing that "the substance ketamine was never administered to Georgina by the pediatricians," either as a medicine or as part of a proprietary substance.”

In addition, Roula Pispirigou during the deposition repeated several times the phrase "I am a mother, I lost three children and I am one step away from prison…". Also about her attitude after the death of Georgina, which was described as "cold", she replied that she was not "cold", but she was a mother who has already lost two children and knew the situation.

What she said about the cameras

Referring to her phrase "you have not seen the biggest seizure yet" that she allegedly said to the doctors shortly before Georgina passed away, she said that she just wanted to mobilize the doctors, in order for them to give their full attention to the 9-year-old. She seems to have called it "an alarm to the doctors", as from the previous incidents, she knew that her daughter had three incidents with tachycardia and then a more severe one, a bradycardia.

Wanting to know if security cameras were installed, she claimed that a theft had already taken place. Regarding the single room in which Georgina was treated, she appears to have said that in any case, due to the nature of the illness and the conditions of treatment, they would be given a single room, regardless of whether she requested it or not.

"No mother can hurt her own child." she said in her deposition

Finally, in her defense, she stressed that after the death of her other daughter Malena, her family appealed to the court against anyone responsible, wanting to show that if she had the slightest involvement, she would not have asked for an investigation into the causes of death. Also, the information wants Roula Pispirigou to have been asked about and answered on the whole course of her relationship with Manos Daskalakis, without leaving any clues against him, regarding the deaths of their three children.

She did not admit anything

"After an investigation process that lasted more than nine hours, the accused stated her position in relation to the accusation.  She denies everything," said Roula Pispirigou's lawyer, Othonas Papadopoulos.

"She will never accept, as she states, that she took the lives of her children. Nothing like that happened," he added. "It puts forward arguments and questions which, even today, have not found a convincing answer. It is a case file that leaves many gaps and questions," he said. Nevertheless, the lawyer stressed that they "fully" respect the decision of the Authorities. "We will continue our efforts to find the origin of this drug, ketamine, which caused the death of little Georgina."

"According to the defendant, my client, the origin of the quantity will show us who did the deed. We submitted a request asking for a written response from the Aglaia Kyriakou Children's Hospital regarding whether the drug substance is finally available in the specific hospital ", stressed Othonas Papadopoulos.

"The second question we asked for in writing is whether there is a book kept on the handling of this illicit drug and if the answer to that question is yes, then we want the name of the person or persons who received such a drug on the date of the loss of little Georgina, that is, 29 January of 2022 ", he noted. "The case has a long way to go," he added. The lawyer noted that the accused burst into tears when she was told she was being held in custody and expressed her surprise.

Investigations into the deaths of the other two children

After the pre-trial detention of Roula Pisprigou for the death of Georgina, the focus of two prosecutors of the Athens Court of First Instance has turned to the circumstances of the death of the other two children of the Daskalaksi family who passed away: Malena who was 3.5 years old and died in July 2019 and Iris who was just 6 months old and passed away in March 2020.

That is, the two children passed away within a period of 20 months.

Grigoris Leon: There is a lot of evidence that "shows" a suffocating death for Malena and Iris

The president of the Forensic Medicine Society, Grigoris Leon, spoke about the existence of a plethora of evidence that proves that the death of the two youngest children of the Daskalakis family came from suffocation.

"We are obviously talking about criminal activity," said Mr. Leon, as he explained that the pathological causes and genetic factors for the death of Malena and Iris have been ruled out.

However, in the case of the two girls, there is no claim that any substance was administered as in Georgina: "The first child (little Malena) underwent toxicological tests with the same methodology as in Georgina and was clean," said Mr. Leon.

After all the information that has been evaluated, the president of the Forensic Medicine Society said that everything leads to an external factor which is death from suffocation.

"For Iris, there are many elements such as the cloth with blood as well as injuries inside the oral cavity," he stressed, speaking to SKAI channel.

Regarding Malena, the first little girl who lost her life in 2019, Mr. Leon revealed that there are some injuries that have been recorded and it is the abrasions that were probably created due to the child's resistance.

The day Iris died

Evidence regarding the actions of the local police, on the day of the death of 6-month-old Iris who was found dead in her cradle on the morning of March 21, 2021, is brought to light today by the newspaper "Peloponnisos".

On the fateful morning of that Sunday, the First Police Department of Patras was informed by "100" the call center of the Immediate Action for the possibility of sudden death of an infant inside the house. Police rushed to the spot, however the house was closed. The baby has been picked up by the EKAB ambulance and accompanied by the parents Roula Pispirigou and Manos Daskalakis and transported to the Karamandani Children's Hospital.

Doctors did not detect any suspicious evidence

The police went to the hospital, where they found the Pispirigou-Daskalakis couple and relatives. After contacting the doctor who was on duty and dealt with the incident, and were informed about Irida's death.

According to police sources, the doctor during the macroscopic examination of the baby did not find anything "suspicious" that indicated a criminal act. According to the provisions, the police order was sent in writing for a forensic examination, while a telephone conversation has been preceded by the head of the Patras forensic service, Angeliki Tsiola.

Testimony of Roula Pispirigou's sister

At noon of the same day, an affidavit was received from Roula Pispirigou's sister, Dimitra. She is the person who a few hours earlier had found Iris unconscious in the crib.

Dimitra Pispirigou, referring to the incident, had stated: "I grabbed the child and she was frozen, I could not see her breathing and I realized that something had happened. I turned on the light and saw her black lips. It was the most shocking thing I have ever experienced in my life. I grabbed the child unconsciously and brought her from there to Roula and it was the first time in my life that I realized that my hands were shaking. We left the child down and started KARPA and called the ambulance… ".

The cloth with blood

On the same day, Roula Pispirigou, according to her statement, located a cloth in her little daughter's crib, which had blood stains. This was handed over by her sister to the police department. They in turn informed the police of the Security sub-directorate. In the following days, an autopsy followed in Iris room, from where photographic material was taken, with the police waiting for the results of the autopsy.

Research into a genetic problem

Next is the forensic examination conducted by Ms. Tsiola, whose report is completed and sent to the Police Department in July 2021, and this is because she is waiting for the findings of the pathological report in order to proceed with the compilation of her own report on the causes of death of Iris.

As the baby is the second child after Malena to die, a complete genetic test was recommended. A process that also proved to take many months, as it was completed only on 30/3/2022 with the result, finally, being negative in terms of the existence of a genetic problem. They checked the blood of the dead Iris, while Georgina was stillalive, and their parents..