Shocking new details are coming to light about the family with six minor children who were found living in deplorable conditions in a rooftop dwelling in Peristeri. A woman who appeared on ANT1’s morning show and said she had known the family described the children as neglected, and revealed that the two girls in the family, aged 8 and 9, are still wearing diapers.
The witness gave the following account: “I’ve known them since around 2019. They moved houses often, but always stayed in this general area. I knew the children fairly well. I would run into them daily for certain periods. They were malnourished, pale, visibly neglected. They had skin problems, bad teeth. These were children who showed clear signs of neglect.
You could sense that a kind of psychological pressure was being exerted on them. They had to get their mother’s silent approval with their eyes before doing anything. They were like little soldiers. The two girls, who are 8 and 9 years old, still wear diapers. The older daughter had to repeat a school year, and the mother framed it as something positive, saying that the two of them would be in the same class and the older one would help the younger with her schoolwork.”
The witness also described what she observed during the family’s frequent visits to a nearby restaurant: “They would always sit at three separate tables: the parents with the two youngest children at one, the two boys at another, and the two girls at a third. The two parents would order one portion of food and feed small bites to the two youngest children. The boys and the girls would sit with nothing in front of them. When the parents finished eating, the mother would order one more portion and split it among the other four children.”
The parents were convicted and sentenced to 16 months in prison, with the sentence convertible to a fine of 10 euros per day. They have filed an appeal and were released pending the outcome. The six children remain under medical supervision, and authorities are continuing their investigation to shed further light on the ordeal the children appear to have endured on a daily basis.
