After the police operation in Kaminia, the mother of the 5-year-old child decides to speak for the first time exclusively to Live News. Her statements, however, compared to those of her 19-year-old daughter, who was arrested on prosecutor’s orders and taken to court this morning, raise questions. The mother and the 19-year-old, who locked and left the child alone in the house, claim that the case has taken on dimensions larger than the actual facts.
“The way they made it so, what can I say, so tragic as if some murder had happened. We need to tell things as they are. I have nothing to hide. Nor do I have anything to fear. The only mistake I made was that my daughter left and went to the kiosk and abandoned the baby alone.”
The statements of the 19-year-old are on the same wavelength, who on Tuesday night locked her five-year-old brother in the house and went out to go to the kiosk, as she says. “And I popped out for a bit to the kiosk because I wanted to go buy him two or three little things he had asked me for. But I didn’t expect the child would climb up on the balcony. My other sister was there too. She’s 17, she’s an adult. Yes, the door was locked, I locked it.”
Kaminia: Mother didn’t return urgently – “I happened to have a funeral”
The five-year-old’s mother was informed, as she says, about what happened by her 19-year-old daughter. But she didn’t return urgently to Kaminia. As she said, she was initially in Paxos and then traveled to Kalamata.
“I happened to come to a funeral in Kalamata. To a relative of mine who was 25 years old and came to the funeral. I left for one night. I left the day before yesterday. The funeral was yesterday. And tonight I’m returning to Athens again.”
The mother was informed by her eldest child, saw the images of the police operation, learned about the uproar caused in the neighborhood, but despite all this, she didn’t return immediately to her base.
“Mom, no, I told her, she’s coming, she just left for something urgent now. I didn’t say she’s not coming. I’ve informed her about the little one and everything. I’ve said everything, I know.”
The contradictions between mother and daughter
Mother and daughter give conflicting information at certain points. The 19-year-old says she’s from a different father and her mother contradicts her.
“We’re from separate fathers, we’re not from the same one. My parents have divorced.”
“The baby, since I lost my husband, together with my children we’ve raised him. We’ve raised him and I work every day so that nothing is missing for my children, for my family. That is, what they discuss and say, the neighbors and all that, that the child has been left alone other times and all that, for me these are lies.”
What is the truth about the children’s father? Where was the mother when these scenes were unfolding? In Paxos, as she told us in the first communication we had with her, or in Kalamata as she mentioned to us later? Why, when she learned about what happened and saw these images, didn’t she find a way to return?
The neighbor who saw the five-year-old child all alone on the balcony and notified the police, brings to mind the images that unfolded the night before last. It wasn’t the first time she had seen images like these. She and other neighbors of the family claim that at regular intervals, the small child is left all alone at risk to his life. “The child was screaming, throwing objects.
The 19-year-old who was arrested maintains that the woman’s claims don’t correspond to reality.
“We have a neighbor, let me tell you, we have a neighbor right across, who I don’t know what her deal is with us in general, because some people here, let me tell you, call the police on us, like at 5-6 o’clock they call the police on us when it’s not quiet hours.”
Prosecutorial intervention for the 19-year-old in 2018
The children’s mother referred, speaking to Live News, to the prosecutor’s intervention that happened in 2018 and the children were transferred to the Children’s Hospital for 20 days.
-I had issues with him, he was very aggressive, very strict, he hit a lot. It had happened, but this was 5, 6 years ago. He didn’t abandon them, he just had hit me and the children got in the middle and he had hit them too and the police came and took the children to the Children’s Hospital. I had called the police myself. Social Services had intervened, Social Workers and they had helped me a lot with everything, to talk, to do.
– How long did the children stay at the Children’s Hospital?
-20 days. I needed to go to the hospital.
– Until you got better?
-I was fine in a week, then I went with them. I took my children myself, I had them.
However, in this case too, the mother testifies something completely different from her 19-year-old daughter, who speaking on the show, says:
-Didn’t you have an incident before where your parents had left you alone again?
-Yes, me with my big sister and the little one, not the little boy, this happened a long time ago. They had taken us to the Children’s Hospital. Me, my little sister and a big one, not the little boy, no relation. We were another story.
-For being alone, meaning they had taken you from mom?
-Yes, yes, yes, yes. She had left us, it’s a long time ago, I don’t remember now to tell you.
-I’m asking if you have all the burden of organizing the house because your parents have left you.
-Yes, I can tell you that okay, yes, but okay, what can I do. The only thing I do is have patience, nothing else.
The rescue of the 5-year-old
In any case, the worst for the 5-year-old child was avoided because a young policewoman, mother of 3 children, risked her life and managed to climb onto the apartment balcony.
She approached the five-year-old child and later the 19-year-old sister returned.
“I left and told my child sit on the couch for a bit, I had put on the TV for him and I tell him I’ll pop out to the kiosk to bring you two or three things you asked me for.”
The footage secured by Live News shows the 5-year-old boy walking all alone on the balcony and sometimes holding onto the railings.
Both the little boy’s 19-year-old sister and their mother speak of exaggerations by the neighbors. But the footage is indisputable.
19-year-old arrested for locking her brother alone in the house
Live News has secured documentary video from the moment of the 19-year-old’s arrest.
The police had set up an ambush outside the family’s house and when the 19-year-old appeared, they arrested her. She spent the night at the Police Station and this morning was taken to court.
While the 19-year-old was on her way to court this morning, her five-year-old brother and 17-year-old sister were, as police sources reported, under protective custody. According to information, the prosecutor ordered the children to be transferred to institutions.
The children’s mother returned to Athens a few hours ago and is now trying to manage the situation, with these images continuing to provoke reactions for another day, while developments are unfolding.
