The 43-year-old man and 38-year-old German woman charged with the murder of an infant found dead inside a thermal bag hidden in a suitcase in an apartment in Kypseli, Athens, have been confirmed as the baby’s biological parents. Authorities had collected DNA samples from three of the family’s minor children — a 15-year-old pregnant girl, a 12-year-old, and a 9-year-old — to determine whether they were, in fact, the couple’s biological children, as the suspects had claimed following their arrest.
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According to information from Mega TV, DNA test results confirmed that the 15-year-old, the 12-year-old, and the dead infant are all biological children of the 43-year-old and the 38-year-old, corroborating the couple’s claims from the outset. However, the results told a different story for the 9-year-old boy, who was found to be the biological son of the 38-year-old woman only — and not of the 43-year-old man.
The couple had insisted that all four minors were their biological children. However, given that both the 38-year-old mother and the 15-year-old daughter are currently pregnant, authorities sought to determine whether this was a family unit or a case involving child abduction and exploitation.
Kypseli baby murder case: The couple allegedly gave drugs to their children
It has emerged that the 43-year-old man and the 38-year-old woman are alleged to have murdered their own infant — which they deny — and to have supplied drugs to their children, as the teenage girl has been found to have a substance addiction problem. The two accused, who were remanded in custody on charges of drug trafficking and failure to report a death, are set to appear before a prosecutor and investigating judge again on September 4th. Both continue to deny killing the infant, claiming the child died of natural causes.
These claims have been thoroughly dismantled by forensic findings released days earlier, which confirmed that the death of the 8-month-old baby was the result of a criminal act. A total of 20 stab wounds were found on the infant’s body — 4 to 5 of which were inflicted before death, with the remainder occurring postmortem.
Three adults were arrested in connection with the case: the 43-year-old man, the 38-year-old German woman — the parents of the infant and the three minors found in the apartment on Thasou Street in Kypseli — as well as a 26-year-old Afghan national. The 43-year-old had claimed that the Illuminati swapped his newborn at the maternity hospital, replacing it with a sick baby that cried incessantly, exhausting the entire family, and that the child ultimately died of natural causes.
The couple is alleged to have killed the baby because its constant crying disturbed them, after which they failed to report the death. The 43-year-old stated he was afraid to report the infant’s death because child welfare services would remove the other three children from his care. The 38-year-old mother claimed they froze the baby’s body because she could not bring herself to part with it. Her partner told authorities that the woman was in a poor psychological state, implying she may have been suffering from postpartum depression.
All three suspects remanded in custody
All three individuals arrested in connection with the horrifying Kypseli baby case have been remanded in custody. The 43-year-old man, the 38-year-old German woman, and the 26-year-old Afghan national were ordered held on remand following their testimonies, in relation to the first set of charges filed against them — drug trafficking and failure to report the discovery of a deceased person.
The suspects are initially charged with drug trafficking, though in their testimonies they argued they are drug users, not traffickers.
Both parents also face charges of premeditated murder, while the three minor children gave their own statements on the evening of September 2nd. The testimonies were conducted in the presence of a child psychologist and, according to information available so far, the children’s accounts appear to align in several respects with the statements previously made by the parents during the preliminary investigation.
The 26-year-old Afghan national faces additional criminal charges including sexual acts with the 15-year-old girl, drug-related offenses, and providing false testimony. DNA testing is expected to be carried out in the coming days to further confirm the paternity of the three children in relation to the 43-year-old.
Additionally, the 43-year-old is scheduled to stand trial on October 5th on separate charges including attempted bodily harm, verbal abuse, threats, property damage, violence against public servants, and attempted escape from custody. The hearing was postponed in light of the pending testimony regarding the infant’s murder.
