A prison sentence of three years with three-year suspension was imposed by the Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki on a 40-year-old mother, who was accused of systematically abusing her infant, resulting in permanent physical injuries. The woman was found guilty of serious intentional bodily harm against a vulnerable person, with recognition of the mitigating factor of previous lawful conduct.
The infant’s ordeal in Thessaloniki at the hands of his 40-year-old mother
According to the indictment and as reported by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, the baby boy was born prematurely on April 1, 2019, and due to his prematurity was hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Hippokration Hospital in Thessaloniki. His abuse appears to have started just one month after his birth, when he was transferred to his home and needed oxygen therapy. Social services and doctors from the medical institution who visited the house to check whether the instructions given to the mother were being followed found that the infant was malnourished. According to the same indictment, from September of the same year until February of the following year, the infant suffered abuse, resulting in hospitalization at various hospitals in Thessaloniki. Initially with a fracture to the right femur, subsequently with brain edema, rib fractures, as well as successive subdural hematomas.
These specific physical injuries were characterized as severe, as his life was endangered and motor disability, vision disorders and developmental disorders were caused, as stated in the referral decision. Initially, both the father and grandmother of the child were made defendants, but were subsequently acquitted as nothing incriminating emerged against them. The 40-year-old admitted that she herself “accidentally” caused the fracture to the infant’s leg while trying to immobilize him during feeding. She denied all other acts described in the indictment, both during the preliminary investigation and before the court. By prosecutorial order, custody of the child was assigned to the grandmother, however it emerged that the defendant visited daily at the residence where her baby lived with the grandmother.
Thessaloniki: “Murderous attacks” – prosecutor’s damning assessment of the 40-year-old mother
In her address, the prosecutor of the Mixed Jury Court spoke of “murderous attacks” by the defendant against her child. “The mother showed no sensitivity at any point about what this child has been through, who, after these injuries, shows permanent disabilities,” said the prosecutorial official, requesting her conviction. She wondered, “if this child, who was born prematurely, was such a burden,” while commenting on the woman’s defense, she said: “I saw no motherly love toward the child.”
