A woman who murdered her nine-year-old tetraplegic daughter was today sentenced to life imprisonment in Greece, found guilty of voluntary first-degree murder over the death of young Georgina.
Roula Pispirigou, 35, was found to have poisoned her daughter with ketamine in 2022 after she spent months in a hospital bed following seizures that led to her paralysis.
The court found that her mother had also tried to kill her during at least one of the previous stays at Karamandaneio Hospital in her hometown of Patra.
The first attempt failed, leaving her daughter paralyzed, local media report reported.
Pispirigou had posed for a final photo with Georgina, portraying herself as a loving parent and smiling at her young daughter before giving her the fatal dose of anesthesia in January 2022.
Pispirigou has been in custody for two years and is also awaiting judgment on the suspected murder of daughters Malena, three and a half when she died in 2019, and Iris, who was just six months old when she died in 2021.
Roula Pispirigou, now 35, from Greece, was pictured smiling at her disabled daughter in the last photo taken of the couple before ‘giving her a fatal dose of ketamine’
Police officers escort to court Roula Pispirigou (C), a 35-year-old woman prosecuted for killing her three daughters in three years, in Athens on March 29, 2024
Pictured: Georgina, one of Roula Pispirigou’s children who died of ketamine poisoning
Georgina had tragically suffered from seizures in 2021, leaving her tetraplegic and unable to move her limbs.
She had spent eight months in the hospital before passing away on January 29, 2022.
Nurses confirmed that her mother had been left alone with her before her sudden death.
Court documents reveal that the autopsy showed Georgina died from a fatal dose of ketamine less than 20 minutes after it was administered.
According to the documents, medical staff last visited the nine-year-old about an hour before she died.
Pispirigou was arrested after being held for questioning when a test of her daughter’s muscle tissue revealed the presence of the anesthetic, which had not been administered by doctors.
On March 30, 2022, she was charged with the murder of her nine-year-old daughter.
The story sparked national outrage and saw crowds of protesters show up to express their feelings.
Shortly after her arrest, riot police were deployed outside the court after a crowd gathered to shout abuse at her.
After she was charged, protesters also gathered outside her home in the port city of Patras, 200 kilometers west of Athens, where police again intervened to maintain order.
Death threats against Pispirigou had again prompted the government to call for calm ahead of today’s verdict.
Pispirigou is also suspected of killing two other daughters, Malena and Iris.
Malena was three and a half when she died in 2019, and Iris was just six months old when she died in 2021.
It was stated that Malena was suffering from acute liver failure. Iris’ cause of death was initially recorded as heart failure.
However, tests after Georgina’s death showed they had been asphyxiated.
Forensic pathologist and president of the Forensic Union of Greece, Grigoris Leon, told local news channel Syndeseis that the exhumation of her other children in 2022 confirmed that “criminal acts were the cause of death.”
The 35-year-old has maintained her innocence during a lengthy trial in Greece
Three-year-old Malena (left) due to liver failure in 2019 and six-month-old Iris (right) in 2021 due to a suspected heart defect
Georgina (right) – who suffered seizures in April 2021 that left her tetraplegic – died in January after spending eight months in hospital. Nurses later confirmed that Pispirigou (left) was alone with her daughter in the moments leading up to her death
Greek media has dubbed Pispirigou, a trained nurse, a “modern Medea” after a figure from Greek mythology who kills her sons after their father leaves her for another woman.
Pispirigou, from western Greece, steadfastly argued her innocence during the trial that started in January last year.
Pispirigou’s mother, speaking to local newspaper STAR after she was charged, said she did not believe her daughter was capable of killing the three children.
Describing a close mother-daughter relationship, she said Pispirigou was extremely angry about Georgina’s illness and death.
The court ultimately ruled that Pispirigou had committed both the crimes of first-degree manslaughter and attempted first-degree manslaughter.