Roula Pispirigou, a mother from Patra in Western Greece, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing of all three of her daughters in a case that has shocked the country.
The 35-year-old, who is already serving a life sentence for the murder of Georgina, her eldest, was found guilty on Tuesday and sentenced to two life sentences for smothering 3-year-old Malena in 2019, and her 6-month-old sister Irida.
The judges adopted the prosecution’s proposal, while the defendant did not request any mitigation. “The defendant will not request mitigation, insists on her innocence and will appeal the decision,” said her attorney.
Upon hearing the decision, Roula Pispirigou stood up, without speaking at all. The entire family of the defendant was in the courtroom, as well as her ex-husband, Manos Daskalakis, who declared support for the prosecution in both trials.
Pispirigou killed her daughters to save her marriage
The judges adopted the prosecutor’s proposal, who had requested the defendant’s guilt, attributing the motive to her obsession with her then-husband Manos Daskalakis.
“Pispirigou drowned the children so that her marriage with Daskalakis could continue. Her egocentrism was eating away at her. She wanted to keep her husband close to her,” said prosecutor Vasiliki Dimopoulou.
“Her egoism was overwhelming to continue living the fabricated dream. The little girls became unfortunate Iphigenias. She shows a person who operates methodically and thoughtfully. Her cold gaze, which is in agreement with the freezing of her fingers, betrays the loss of love,” she added.
The prosecutor stated, “The accused exploited the opportunity to conceal her crimes with the help of the forensic doctors. They have failed to recognize their responsibility and have not conducted a serious or thorough investigation into the cause of death of three young children. Forensic doctors are marked by irresponsibility and sycophantic behavior.”
Pispirigou, a “modern-day Medea”
Last year Pispirigou was found guilty of murdering her nine-year-old daughter, Georgina, who died in January 2022 following a lengthy hospital stay. She had attempted to murder her earlier, when the child was hospitalized at Karamandaneio Hospital in Patra the previous year.
Her initial attempt failed, leaving the child paralyzed. Later, Pispirigou administered the anesthetic drug ketamine, resulting in the child’s death at the Children’s Hospital.
Greek media have nicknamed Pispirigou, a nurse by training, as a “modern-day Medea,” a figure in Greek mythology who murders her sons after their father leaves her for another woman.
The alleged triple infanticide has received widespread media attention in Greece, where such crimes are relatively rare. When she appeared in court shortly after her arrest, she wore a bullet-proof vest and riot police were deployed to control a crowd shouting: “Murderess, confess your crime.”
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