Charged and with behind him the estranged wife of Roula Pispirigou who was crying in the courtroom, the father of Malena and Iris Manos Daskalakis, the first witness in the trial for the deaths of the two girls, testified at the MOD.

The witness began recounting the events that unfolded when the family experienced the first loss of a child, now charged with a criminal act by Pispirigou.

“She was in shock, pulling her hair.” the witness said to the court, referring to how he found the accused at the Aglaia Kyriakou hospital on April 13, 2019, while the doctors were in Malena’s room and were fighting to keep her alive after an incident of resistance.

The child, 3.5 years old, had been admitted to the Oncology Department of the “Aglaia Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital, in order to undergo an 8-day chemotherapy to treat lymphadenitis. The little patient, according to the case file, had a very good response, while her general condition was considered excellent, based on the biochemical control after the completion of the chemotherapy. However, on the afternoon of April 13, the child died suddenly, while the cause of death was recorded as sudden arrest of unspecified causes.

Daskalakis told the court that when the doctors informed them that Malena did not make it and that an autopsy should be performed, the defendant started shouting: “No, I don’t want you to cut my child“, while in the continuation of his testimony he stated that the mother of his children “after killing Malena for some time he cried constantly“.

Referring to the death of Iris, on March 21, 2021, Manos Daskalakis said that he was informed that the child had suffered something after he had previously announced to the defendant that they were divorcing.

The trial will continue on March 22.