After a recess of about half an hour, the trial in the Mixed Jury Court of Heraklion regarding the death of 3-year-old Angelos—a case that had shocked the entire country—resumed. As the proceedings resumed, the prosecutor began her closing argument, placing particular emphasis on the findings that, as she noted, were evident on the child’s body.

“No one found the courage to tell us who was responsible for Angelos’s death. Except that Angelos left everything recorded on his little body,” she noted pointedly. The prosecutor cited 32 injuries on the child’s body, emphasizing that these injuries obviously caused intense physical pain to a child who was only 3 years old.

As she explained, the beatings occurred over a period of approximately two months, a fact which, according to her closing argument, indicates that in December and January “this child was being abused inside his own home.” In her closing argument, the prosecutor referred to false allegations made by both defendants. “Both defendants are lying, and they will never tell us the truth,” she said.

At the same time, she emphasized that neither the mother nor her partner was able to protect her child. As he noted, testimony revealed that as early as January 25, the 44-year-old man had called the child “dirty” because, as was stated, the child was making a mess in the house.

“So we have two people who are heartless, because the child has been subjected to systematic abuse. They began to slowly destroy the child,” the prosecutor stated. She then dismissed as false the 27-year-old mother’s claim that everything was done by her 44-year-old ex-partner. As she explained, the mother smoked and caused burns on her child’s body.

The prosecutor also noted that the mother’s claim that she did not smoke is false, as a witness had seen her smoking in the backyard. “So the defendant smokes and doesn’t want to tell us, and she hit the child and doesn’t want to tell us. But the child told us this himself,” she said emphatically.

The full defense statement of the 44-year-old former partner of the 27-year-old mother

Earlier, the 44-year-old defendant, the former partner of the child’s mother, made his statement in court, with the proceedings now entering their final stages. His plea was scheduled for Friday but was postponed due to illness, as he did not appear in court. On that day, the 26-year-old mother of the child and the biological father—who is on trial for an alleged abuse incident that occurred before the child was taken to Crete—presented their defenses.

At the start of his testimony, the 44-year-old spoke about his personal life and his relationships with the neighborhood, saying that he had “good relationships” with most people, although, as he claimed, there were one or two people who acted “strangely” toward him because of a car he had parked outside his house.

Speaking about his family, he mentioned that he grew up with “wonderful parents” who instilled strong values in him. He then described how he met little Angelos’s mother, claiming that they met on Facebook through a group chat with his cousin.

As he said, the 26-year-old then sent him a private message, and they began communicating more frequently, talking about their lives. The 44-year-old claimed that the woman had mentioned she wasn’t happy in Athens and that she had a child.

According to his testimony, the 26-year-old’s father was present during a video call they had, and, as he claimed, he was verbally abusing her. He stated that she then asked him what she should do, and he suggested that she come to Crete.

The defendant further claimed that he thought it was a good idea for the woman to come to Crete “to protect the child,” while noting that her parents did not like him and judged him based on his appearance.

Referring to his relationship with little Angelos, the 44-year-old stated: “We had a very good relationship with Angelos. We played together and spent a lot of time together.”

The defendant then spoke about the child’s mother’s behavior, saying: “She would grab the child by the mouth and press down to get the spoon in. I asked her, ‘Why are you doing that?’ She told me, ‘That’s how he eats.’”

The 44-year-old further claimed that in December, little Angelos had put his hands in a bucket of mop water, and because he got wet, his mother allegedly got angry and slapped him. As he said, he wasn’t present during the incident, but the child told him about it later. “When I saw him, he had a mark on his lips,” he testified in court.

Referring to his relationship with the 26-year-old, the defendant said that he had proposed marriage to her, but later withdrew the proposal. As he claimed, one week before Angelos’s death, he asked her to break up with him. He also stated that she then called her father and asked him for 100 euros to leave, because, as she said, she did not want to take money from him.

According to the 44-year-old, her father allegedly replied, “If you break up with Christos, you’ll end up sleeping on park benches.”

At the same time, he described the child’s mother as being extremely nervous, claiming that there were no serious arguments between them. “We didn’t argue with each other; she argued with herself. The child’s 27-year-old mother was a very nervous person,” he said in his defense.

The 44-year-old denied that he had hit the child. “I didn’t hit him; I’ve never hit my own child here,” he said, adding that when he was shown photos of the 3-year-old’s injuries at the police station, “I went crazy,” as he put it.

In his defense, he attempted to attribute some of the child’s injuries to accidents. As he claimed, on one occasion he had taken Angelos to the bathroom, placed him on the toilet, and the child slipped, causing him to hit his back on a pipe that was behind him.

The child’s mother, however, claimed in her testimony on Friday that the 44-year-old man had placed the child in the toilet bowl. For his part, he claims that the child simply slipped.

The defendant also stated that he had never seen all the injuries documented on the child’s body. He claimed that on one occasion, Angelos had caught his finger in the door and he had suggested they go to a doctor; however, as he said, the child’s mother refused, saying they didn’t have health insurance.

At another point in his defense, he claimed that the 26-year-old left the child on the stairs and the boy fell from the eighth step. As he said, he suggested that they take the child to the hospital, but she reportedly replied, “Don’t meddle with my child.”

The 44-year-old claimed that he suspected the mother was hitting the child, although, as he said, she never did so in front of him. “I suspected she was hitting him. But she never hit him in front of me,” he said.

At the same time, he claimed that he had taken a video of the child with bruises and that he had warned the mother that if she hit the child again, he would report her to the police. According to him, she threatened that if he went to the authorities, she would accuse him of rape.

The 44-year-old also claimed that the mother had confessed to him that she had hit the child because, as she said, the child was cursing at her. According to him, the 26-year-old had told him that she would never hit the child again and had sworn to him that she wouldn’t.

He also mentioned that he saw photos on her cell phone of the child’s injuries, and when he asked her what they were, she replied, “From that bum,” referring, according to him, to the biological father.

“I went to the kitchen to make him some milk. Then I heard a thud on the coffee table. I ran over and saw the child on the floor. I started yelling for help. I laid him on the couch so he could come to, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he said ‘Daddy’ to me,” said the 44-year-old, claiming that a neighbor then came over and an ambulance was called.

“I had seen her grab the child by the arms and shake him. When she did that, Angelos was calling out ‘Mom’—he wasn’t crying. He was a tough little guy.” “Angelos was very close to me. And his mother was jealous of that,” he added, among other things.

He also said that his daughter had seen the mother hitting little Angelos.

Following the conclusion of the 44-year-old’s testimony, the prosecutor’s recommendation is expected.

This will be followed by closing arguments from the defense attorneys and the court’s ruling.

What the child’s mother claimed in her testimony on Friday

During her testimony on Friday, the 26-year-old mother denied abusing her child, claiming that her 44-year-old co-defendant was the one who had been violent toward the child.

Among other things, she stated that she had never hit her child and did not want to harm him. She claimed that the 44-year-old manipulated and intimidated her, and that he was the one who hit the child. She stated that she was afraid to react because—as she said—she herself was also a victim of violence.

She admitted that she did not protect her child, saying that this was the biggest mistake of her life. She stated that she did not realize the seriousness of the situation until the child lost consciousness.

She claimed that she believed the 44-year-old’s explanations for the injuries, attributing them to accidents or falls. She apologized for what had happened, stating that she would carry the burden of her child’s loss for the rest of her life.

The case has caused a great deal of public outrage, as, according to the medical examiner’s report, 32 injuries of varying ages were documented on the three-year-old’s body, a fact that formed a key part of the evidentiary proceedings.

Source: Protothema.gr