The entire nation watches in shock as rapid developments unfold in the case of Irini Mourtzoukou, who confessed to killing four babies – her two children, her sister, and her friend Katerina’s baby. Specifically, yesterday, Wednesday morning, the young woman, just before being led before the investigator and prosecutor in Patras, “broke down” in front of experienced officers from the Homicide Department, and confessed to the murders of the four young children, saying that “when I fought with someone, I would lock up and do harm”.
Mourtzoukou, who proceeded with an unprecedented confession in her testimony, admitted to murdering her 1.5-year-old sister in 2014, when she was only 14 years old, the daughter of her close friend and godmother, Katerina, in 2021, her second daughter in October 2023, while claiming she “accidentally suffocated” her first daughter in her sleep in June 2022. According to information, she denied murdering little Panagiotis in August 2024, and also denied attempting to murder her partner in between.
Irini Mourtzoukou: “I’m telling you I did it but I don’t know why”
Meanwhile, new details about what the 25-year-old allegedly told police are coming to light. According to STAR information, Eirini Mourtzoukou allegedly claimed that the motive for her horrific crimes was revenge and anger.
Specifically, according to excerpts presented by Star’s midday news bulletin and journalist Tassoula Papanikolaou, when the 25-year-old requested to give testimony and confess, Mourtzoukou allegedly said: “I’m telling you I did it, but I don’t know why. Every time I became clouded because of my mother. I can’t explain it but it was as if I wasn’t thinking anything in those moments. Either we had fought and I felt my mind going crazy or I was thinking about what she had done to me and what I had missed because of her. The exact same thing happened with my sister, the same with Katerina’s baby, the same with my one child, Maria Frederiki. For my other baby I’m telling you I did it without realizing it. I woke up and had suffocated it in my sleep.
I always dreamed of a beautiful family that I never had. And look where I ended up. Harming my own children, my sister and another innocent baby. I mean Katerina’s. And since we’re saying everything and I really feel liberated, I’m telling you that I never touched little Panagiotis. Never. I have nothing to lose at this point. How did I reach such a point that I became so clouded and don’t even remember? It’s impossible“.
Mourtzoukou: What she allegedly said about each murder
“I was angry with my mother. She had abandoned us. She had dumped everything on me. She was constantly going out. And that day she did the same and we fought. I wanted to hurt her. Maybe I killed my sister by pressing her from above,” the 25-year-old allegedly claimed regarding the murder of her 1.5-year-old sister, according to the same information.
Meanwhile, regarding the murder of her friend’s child, the 25-year-old allegedly maintained she wanted to get revenge on her partner. “With Katerina’s child I was angry with her partner. He wasn’t a good person, I got irritated. He was provocative, he kept insulting me. I wanted to get revenge on him and I took it out on the child,” Eirini Mourtzoukou allegedly said.
Regarding the murder of her first child, Eirini Mourtzoukou claimed she “accidentally suffocated” her in her sleep. “With Zoe-Iliana we were sleeping in the same bed. No one else was there. I might have killed her by accident. I might have suffocated her in my sleep. I woke up and found her cold next to me,” she allegedly claimed.
“I didn’t attempt to kill Maria-Frederiki 5 times, as they say. I was talking to my mother on the phone and we fought. She was asking me for a loan. I wanted to do harm, to take it out on the child. I grabbed the child and killed it. Then I was walking in the hallway, I realized what I had done, I went back and started shouting for them to save it,” Eirini Mourtzoukou allegedly said finally about her second child, according to STAR.
“I haven’t touched little Panagiotis”
However, the young woman allegedly denies any involvement in the death of little Panagiotis, clarifying that she hasn’t harmed the child. “I want to get this out of me. But know that little Panagiotis, I haven’t touched him…,” she allegedly told police.
Mourtzoukou’s lawyer: “Because I hear inaccuracies, no confession was extracted from my client“
Meanwhile, speaking about developments in the case today, Thursday (10/7), Nikos Alexandris, attorney for Eirini Mourtzoukou, stated, among other things, on ANT1’s “Summer Together” show that “my client can retract her confession whenever she wants,” arguing that “my advice to the defendant, all this time, has been to tell the truth”. “Because I hear inaccuracies, no confession was extracted from my client. The defendant confessed voluntarily, this will never change. She confessed for her own reasons and not to be a protagonist on TV channels. When she wants to say the rest, she will say it,” said Nikos Alexandris and continued:
“This specific confession is not a confession, it’s testimony, let’s clarify that. Because it’s not within the framework of this case file we’re examining and for which Ms. Mourtzoukou has been arrested, it won’t even enter the case file. If she wants to, and this is what the public should know, she can retract it whenever she wants, however she won’t do it, because she wants to be relieved of the burden of her actions. And this should be appreciated”.
Mourtzoukou’s mother’s lawyer: “Huge mistakes and omissions weigh on forensic doctors and erroneous preliminary investigation”
Earlier, accusations against the Forensic Service of Patras, which, as she said, wrongly attributed the deaths to pathological causes, were launched by the lawyer representing Eirini Mourtzoukou’s mother, Sofia Polyzogopoulou, speaking on ERT News’s CONNECTIONS show.
It’s recalled that after the defendant’s confession that she murdered three of the five children connected to her name, as well as her own sister in 2014, the entire Forensic Service of Patras was suspended until further notice by decision of Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis, with the lawyer emphasizing that “there are unthinkable omissions and errors by the forensic service”. “These reports are contradicted and it’s proven that these were not pathological causes,” the lawyer emphasized.
When asked by journalists if there was a way to prevent the deaths earlier, Eirini Mourtzoukou’s mother’s lawyer answered: “If from 2014 it had been determined that Eirini’s sister’s death was not pathological but murder, the other children wouldn’t have been lost. The huge mistakes and omissions weigh on the forensic doctors and the erroneous preliminary investigation”.
The defendant’s mother, Mrs. Popi, is reportedly in a very bad psychological state, while she intends to exercise all her legal rights. As her lawyer stated, she is not accused of anything, nor is she criminally involved in the case, while she clarified that they will declare their support for the prosecution.