3-year-old boy tortured by “parents” in Crete declared “brain dead”

Doctors in Heraklio hospital declared the three-year-old boy as “brain-dead” on Sunday. The boy, identified with the name Angelos – Angel – was victim of a ongoing abuse and torture by his mother and her partner.

He has been hospitalized intubated in the pediatric ICU of the general university hospital of Heraklion since last Sunday and underwent at least one surgery as well as several tests on his brain activity in the last 24 hours.

According to hospital director, Giorgos Chalkiadakis, medical tests confirmed that the child’s brain no longer responds, meeting the criteria for brain death.

The boy was initially transported by ambulance from the home he shared with his mother and her partner in Therisos, Heraklion, last Sunday, January 26. It was a neighbor who found the boy in coma and called the ambulance and the police.

Doctors in the hospital discovered a large subdural hematoma, and the child was rushed into surgery to relieve the pressure. Examinations also revealed multiple injuries, including bruises, contusions and burns also between his fingers and toes in various stages of healing, suggesting prolonged abuse.

“I have never seen such severe wound in a three-year-old in my 35-year career,” Chalkiadakis stated in a previous interview.

Following marathon testimonies in court last Wednesday, the 26-year-old mother and her 44-year-old partner were both remanded in custody, facing charges including attempted murder. During their statements, they attempted to blame each other for the child’s condition. Αccording to local media, the partner had videos and pictures from the tortured boy on his mobile phone and claimed to police that he wanted to show it was the mother who abused the child not him.

In October 2024, the mother took the boy and moved from Athens to Crete to live together with the man she had met online.

Hundreds of locals had gathered outside the court swearing at the woman and her partner and tried to lynch them.

At the same time, a wave of love reached the hospital, with people offering to adopt the little angel, no matter what his health condition would be following his discharge.

Hospital officials confirmed that specific medical protocols will be followed in the coming 24 hours regarding the case.

It should be noted that his grandmother from his mother side had applied and was granted custody for the child.

The biological father of the boy told several media that the mother’s family did not want him as their son-in-law and therefore he stayed away stressing he had seen the boy only two times since it was born.