Proto Thema met with Myrto and Aspasia, two young survivors at the ANIMUS Recovery and Rehabilitation Center in Larisa. The two girls managed to escape death, but still have to deal with the daily pain and trauma emanating from their attacks.
Myrto was brutally assaulted by a Pakistani illegal migrant who accosted her on a remote Paros beach, while Aspasia was shot in the head by her own father, who tried to kill her in order to get revenge on her mother.
Both cases generated numerous headlines at the time, but now that media attention has dimmed the young women are left with tremendous medical problems, that they need to overcome before they can have normal lives
It was July 2012 when Myrto was vacationing on the isle of Paros with her mother and sister when a Pakistani national, Ahmed Vakas, followed the 15-year-old, raped her, smashed her head with a large stone and left her for dead. Her mother found her shortly afterwards in a critical condition; the young girl’s life changed forever.In August 2013, a man blinded by rage against his estranged wife shot his daughter Aspasia, 16, before taking his own life, part of his deranged attempt to get revenge on the teen girl’s mother.
Proto Thema met with Myrto in Room 101 where she is on a daily program of exercise and therapy so that some day she can lead an independent life.
Her mother, Maria Kotrotsou, says: “Recovery is long-term, and we never know where it will lead us and how far we can go despite all the effort we are putting into it. What matters is Myrto’s daily life. She is in pain and tries to recover little-by-little through five-hour therapy sessions so that some things can improve. She can’t talk, she can’t walk, but she can stand with special leg braces that hold her entire leg and keep it stiff without letting the knees bend.”
Kotrotsou’s daily life consists of caring for her daughter, and she no longer cares that she has no personal life. All that matters to her is her child’s future. “Myrto can be helped as long as she is here at the Recovery Center,” says her mother. “What will happen when we need to go? The state helped us go abroad and this is something I recognize and am thankful for. What will happen, though, when I have to go back home in Athens? The Center offers so much in the medical and pharmaceutical sector as well as in therapy and offers all the special equipment needed. Unfortunately, I’m not (F1 pilot Michael) Schumacher and I can’t create a center in my home.” She points to patients like Myrto who need help that the state, unfortunately, doesn’t offer.
In a more surprising twist that is bound to generate controversy and criticism, she cites a common element that Myrto’s attack has with little Ani’s murder. “One thing in common between Myrto and little Ani’s murder is that both (crimes) were committed by people who aren’t Greeks,” she says. “Allow me to say that I am not a racist, but it has to do with the place and conditions in which these people (perpetrators in the two instances) are raised. Especially the ones who come from Muslim countries. As for the father of the tragic four-year-old, I hear that he was a drug addict. If drug addicts can commit such crimes, then the State needs to seriously examine how to deal with them so that we don’t end up with such situations.”
On the same floor, just a few meters away in room No. 104 lies Aspa. Now aged 19, the teen was sleeping when Proto Thema’s reporter arrived. Her mother Spyridoula and aunt were by her side, ready to detail the efforts required so that Aspa’s condition can improve.
“We’ve been at the Recovery Center for 15 months. We see improvement, but recovery is a long road and isn’t as I imagined,” says the mother. “Over these months Aspa may be stuck to her bed, but the daily struggle to talk and walk are admirable. Aspasia remembers, perceives, feels, smiles when I talk to her. She nods her head when she wants to say ‘yes’. She cries and shrieks even when I leave her room for just a few minutes. She needs me near her to feel secure. She still remembers her father.”
Doctors are at her side constantly, helping her fight to recover. “I don’t know where she gets so much strength. Probably from the will to get better. I remember that her favorite subject was math. Her friend Marina visited her recently, they sat at the front desk,” says the mother. “She remembers all the details and shakes her head in an effort to respond to us. In a recent discussion with the psychologist, she was asked if she remembered her father. She nodded. Later she was asked if he was called Kostas and she said ‘No’. She nodded when she heard his name. Thankfully, this discussion did not appear to upset her.”
Like Myrto’s mother, Aspa’s mother is anxious about what will follow once they leave the Recovery Center. “I usually say that this is a paradise. Achilleas Davelis, the Center’s president, the people who take care of Aspasia and myself are here, but how long will this last? If Aspasia stands on her own two feet it will be God’s will. If not, we will need to continue fighting for her recovery. The State doesn’t care nor is likely to care about people who are different. There is no welfare state. Leaving here, I will need to find a home because the one I live in isn’t functional. I need special bars, a lift, therapists… The state offers a bed, a wheelchair and nothing else. I am the one who needs to work and help her.”
Coincidentally, both girls came to the center on the same day.
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