The 32-year-old mother of the 3-year-old girl who was found dead on a beach in southern Athens continues to claim she is innocent of killing the girl, but admits to making mistakes out of panic. The mother is accused of causing the death of her daughter in Palaio Faliro and was taken to a Greek prison on Wednesday (6/8).
In a marathon testimony, which lasted more than five hours and was conducted with the assistance of a translator, the mother claimed that the 3-year-old girl was already dead due to an accident at their home, when she had the idea to leave her on the beach.
“I thought Jenna was dead. I panicked and thought of going to the sea,” she said, among other things, during her lengthy testimony.
She explained that “Jenna and I got into the shower so she could bathe. She asked for water and when I went to the kitchen to get it, I heard a thud, like she had fallen. I rushed back and saw her lying on the floor, convulsing. I picked her up and tried to bring her around, and she came to a few minutes later,” she initially said.
“We went back into the bathroom and she hit herself a second time. She lost consciousness and no matter how much I tried, she wouldn’t wake up. I thought Jenna was dead. I panicked, I was afraid. At that moment, the only thing I could think of was to go to the sea. It was a mistake, and I regret it, but she was already dead,” she noted.
The mother explained how she got to the beach with her two other children, where she has been captured on CCTV as arriving with the girl in a stroller with her hat covering the girl’s face. In other images, she is seen leaving the beach without the girl and ditching the stroller.
“I arrived in Faliro by tram. I bought something from the kiosk and then we went to the beach. The kids played in the playground and then, returning again to the beach, I entered the sea and left Jenna there. I couldn’t bear to go back and look at the child.”
After her testimony, the 32-year-old was taken to prison and her laywer made the following statement to press: “My client was remanded in custody after providing a very detailed testimony. She gave a lot of information and made sure to offer all necessary details to help clarify the circumstances surrounding the child’s death,” said the defendant’s lawyer.
“Our client admitted to some mistakes she made, but under no circumstances does she accept the charge that she is the one who took the life of her own child,” said the mother’s other lawyer, Giorgos Kriemadis.
The 32-year-old entered Greece from Turkey with her husband while pregnant with her first child. The family initially stayed in a reception facility before gradually renting homes in different areas of Attica.
In the most recent home, the woman was living alone with the children, as her husband had been deported in 2023.
Sources close to the 32-year-old told MEGA that all three of her children were born in public hospitals in Greece.
