An 18-month-old baby was submitted to hospital in half-coma after the mother’s partner gave him drugs to keep it calm. The baby was initially taken to a hospital in Lamia, Central Greece, and from there to a hospital in Athens due to the severity of its health condition. The 17-year-old mother and her 23-year-old partner were detained and taken to prosecutor. The couple faces felony charges.
Both the baby’s mother and the grandmother claim that it was the 23-year-old partner, who gave the drugs to the baby.
The man is reportedly a drug addict.
In a raid, police found several drugs in the home where the couple was living in Avlaki, Stylida. Police found well-hidden small portions of heroine and hashish as wells as sedatives with the same active substance the hospital doctors found the in baby’s blood.
The couple reportedly declared ‘ignorance’ about the sedative substance.
There is confusion whether the man is the biological father of the child. According to some media, the man is the biological father of two other children of the family, aged 3.5 and 2.5 years old.
The baby’s mother reportedly claimed to police that the baby was feeling uncomfortable and that the man gave it the pill in order to keep it calm. The drugs were hidden in a place the child could not have access to, she said.
The mother is Roma, television channels reported on Wednesday.
The case adds to other recent cases of abused and abandoned Roma children.
Another family drama in a society and a state that has been neglecting existing social problems for decades. And now it keeps on turning a blind eye to problems under the pretext of the economic crisis.
