“Hepatic failure cannot be a cause of sudden death” declared to MOD, in the trial of the mother of the dead children from Patras, medical examiner Nikos Kalogrias, giving his own “answer” to his colleague who had initially ruled that Malena ended due to liver disease.

The medical examiner, together with the head of the Forensic Service Nikos Karakoukis, re-checked the data on the deaths of the two youngest daughters of the accused. The two coroners ruled that the two children had died from asphyxiation. Their scientific opinion led the judicial authorities to refer Pispirigou, already sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her first-born daughter, to trial for manslaughter against Malena and Iris.

According to Mr. Kalogreas, anyone who follows the line of thought of the medical examiner who ruled on liver failure “suffers scientific vertigo”: “A histological finding, such as vacuolar degeneration, cannot mean liver failure. This is clear in the forensic community. Nor can liver failure be a cause of sudden death,” he stressed.

He also testified that Malena “under no circumstances had liver failure. From the picture of a cheerful and lively child and without jaundice, there is no way that this child had liver failure. It’s a wrong cause of death.”

Before the testimony of Mr. Kalogrias began, during the examination of Mr. Karakoukis from the defense of the accused, her counsel, Alexis Kougias, wanted to represent the manner in which it is attributed to his principal that he caused Malena to suffocate, a move which according to charge left marks on the child’s face. The defense counters that these marks were made by the mask during CPR.

Mr. Kougias put the accused in the position of the victim, when his partner refused to assist in the informal representation. The following dialogue ensued between the advocate, the president and Mr. Kalogria:

Kougias: I will do it to Ms. Pispirigou.

Pispirigou: Should I go back like Malena was?

Kougias: Here as the hand is (he placed it high on the nose) can I close the nose?

President: Don’t do it because it’s hot…

Kougias: You all will. This is where human freedom is judged. I try to do it any way I can.

Witness: They are abrasions… (the marks)

Kougias: Did someone say he doesn’t have redness?

Witness: If the other hand also goes, the air carriers close.

Kougias: So he will choose this way?

Witness: The perpetrator doesn’t choose, he chooses to shut up… since we can’t come to an agreement.

Kougias: Shall I push with all my might to the point where it does not close?

Witness: This is what the perpetrator is looking at…

Kougias: Everyone will do it.

Witness: Be careful not to get hurt…

Kougias: What damage should they suffer, only the accused has suffered damage. Do you know if the accused had fingernails?

Witness: If someone had gloves it could not have been done.

The trial continues.