By Elena Galari

Adamant that the marks on the face of 3.5-year-old Malena, which according to the accusation indicate suffocation, were not caused by the mask during the resuscitation by the doctors, as invoked by the defense of the accused from Patras, appeared before the judges her Head Forensic Service of Athens, Nikos Karakoukis.

In fact, the witness attempted to represent how one might close the airways, pointing out that because the children do not react, there is no injury.

Kougias: I offer to close my mouth and nose or the accused.

Witness: When I put my hand under soft tissue the marks are very easy. I put my hands down to close airways. The palm rests on the jaw mouth and the fingers touch the nose. It is fatal to achieve suffocation for the hands to reach up.

Kougias: From what you have shown, he can never close his mouth and nose

Witness: But it closed…

The next witness who testified in the trial about the death of the two children of the accused from Patras, Malenas and Iridas, was the medical examiner Nikos Kalogreas, who once again, during his testimony, spoke of findings indicating suffocation.

“If you take the findings one by one you may have doubts, but when you have seven together they lead somewhere. Not every finding can be caused by something else. There is nothing else that combines these findings,” said the witness, who, referring to his colleague Christina Tsakona, who diagnosed liver failure as the cause of death, said:

“It is a difficult diagnosis, often without findings. There is a diagnosis of suffocation often without findings, here we are lucky because we have findings. It is not that Chr. Tsakona made an extreme mistake, it is not easy to diagnose. It’s not a trial by coroners, we’re trying the death of two children.”