A chilling account emerged during the trial in Heraklion, Crete, as the 27-year-old mother of three-year-old Angelos took the stand. She and her 44-year-old partner are accused of causing the boy’s death — a case that shocked the entire country when it came to light. The child was brought to hospital severely injured and later died.
Her partner did not appear in court, reportedly due to illness, his lawyer confirmed.
According to reporting by cretalive.gr, the mother described her upbringing: she grew up with her family, attended school, and later trained as a hairdresser. She first worked alongside her mother at a cleaning company and later at a grill restaurant. She also revealed that she had previously become pregnant in an earlier relationship, but the pregnancy ended.
She met Angelos’ biological father online; their relationship progressed rapidly — they became a couple on the first day they met and spent that same night together. Three months later, she became pregnant with Angelos.
The couple lived with the father’s family at the time, and — according to her testimony — neither she nor her partner was employed then. She told the court she informed her parents about her pregnancy and said she did not want to terminate it.
She testified that tensions arose early in the relationship and escalated after she became pregnant. ‘He started hitting me and accusing me of not caring about him,’ she said, adding that she never filed a formal complaint.
The couple briefly separated during her fourth month of pregnancy, but he later picked her up from her mother’s home and they reconciled.
Angelos was born on 20 January 2022. ‘I was happy to have my baby,’ she said. When the boy was about 20 days old, they moved to Vravronas (near Athens), staying at her father’s home. There, she said, neither she nor Angelos’ father worked, and they were financially supported by her father.
She explained that she feared formally recognizing him as the child’s father, citing a disturbing incident that left her deeply frightened: she witnessed her partner slam the infant onto the floor and slap him because the child refused to go to him. She said she immediately intervened — pushing him away — and claimed she was then struck herself. That moment, she said, instilled intense fear, leading her to avoid him afterward.