Thessaloniki: Nine Members of Care Facility Found Guilty for Injuring a 21-Year-Old

Sentences ranging from 8 to 28 months, with a three-year suspension, were handed down by the Single-Member Court of Appeals to nine individuals found guilty of mutual injuries against a 21-year-old who was under the care and protection of the disability center ‘Agios Dimitrios’ from 2018 to 2021. Among the convicted are two former presidents of the Central Macedonia Social Welfare Center in Thessaloniki, as well as supervisors, caregivers, and nurses from the facility caring for children with disabilities. In the same ruling, nine caregivers and nurses were acquitted. Overall, 18 individuals were charged in the case following an investigation after the death of the 21-year-old in November 2021. A caregiver at the institution was sentenced to ten years in prison by another court for causing fatal bodily harm to an incapacitated person but was released pending appeal. The same caregiver was also sentenced to eight months in prison for injuring the 21-year-old. The prosecution relied on incidents of injury over the three-year period that led the young man to seek medical attention. The accused caregivers and nurses failed to take preventive measures against self-harm or conflicts among residents leading to injuries, while their supervisors did not conduct necessary checks. The longest sentence (28 months) was given to one of the former presidents of the center. All defendants denied the charges, citing issues like understaffing and lack of infrastructure, while management members claimed there had been no complaints regarding the specific resident. The court requested the case file be forwarded to the Thessaloniki Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate additional injury incidents reported during the lengthy trial by the victim’s family through their civil attorney.