Police in Athens investigates the death of an 11-month-old refugee baby from Syria. Preliminary forensic findings are shocking: the body of the baby girl had marks of sexual abuse, police said in a statement. However, the initial scenario of the baby abuse may change due to new findings in connection with a illness.
According to initial information by state broadcaster ERT TV, the infant was diagnosed with encephalitis when the father brought it to Children Hospital Aglaia Kyriakou round 11 o’ clock on Sunday morning.
“The baby had no pulse and was not breathing,” the hospital said in a statement issued on Sunday afternoon stressing that doctors immediately tried to revive it, however, with no result.
The hospital informed the police and called a coroner, the statement said.
An examination conducted by the doctors and a coroner showed that the baby had signs of sexual abuse.
The infant’s parents were taken to Attica Security Directorate.
The family from Syria has been living in a rented apartment in Zografou suburb of Athens under the UNHCR refugee program. The family shares the apartment with another refugee couple with one child from Syria.
Alpha TV reported that the two other children of the family, the twin sibling of the dead infant and a 2.5-year-old child, as well as the child of the other family, also 2.5 years old, are to be taken to the Children Hospital and examined by a coroner.
Currently both couples are in the Security Directorate with the two mothers to be interrogated first with the help of an interpreter.
The baby was suffering from microcephalitis and encephalitis, one of the doctors who examined the infant told the reporter of Alpha TV. “The doctor who also testified to police said that microcephalitis can cause skin lesions,” the reporter said.
A coroner is excepted to conduct an autopsy on the body of the refugee baby girl.
A juvenile prosecutor supervises the police investigation.
