The trial of Roula Pispirigkou for the deaths of her two children, Malena and Iris, continued today (October 24) at the Mixed Jury Court of Athens with the testimony of forensic expert Nikos Karakoukis.

Mr. Karakoukis, who did not complete his testimony today and will continue on October 30, stated that Malena Daskalaki could not have died from liver failure, as initially diagnosed by forensic expert Christina Tsakona.

The witness, who alongside his colleague Nikos Kalogrias attributed the deaths of both Malena and Iris Daskalaki to asphyxiation, faced a series of questions from the court president regarding the steps taken in his investigation into the girls’ deaths.

• President: During your investigation, who did you communicate with?
• Witness: With Ms. Tsakona. Mr. Agapitos had retired and had given various interviews stating it was asphyxiation. He documented it in writing. He provided his histological report to Ms. Tsakona. We were confident in the findings he recorded. There was no diagnostic issue here; his report did not trouble us. However, Ms. Tsakona’s liver failure diagnosis did raise concerns.
• President: What troubled you about the liver failure diagnosis made by Ms. Tsakona?
• Witness: For liver failure, there must be hepatic coma and bleeding. She stated liver failure without showing any alterations that are prerequisites for liver failure. Liver failure is a generalized, complete disturbance of the architecture of the liver.
• President: Ms. Tsakona wrote about a pale and friable liver.
• Witness: No relation. A disturbance in the architecture of the liver is, for example, cirrhosis of the liver. After that, the person suffers a hepatic coma and dies. A pale and friable liver is seen in hepatitis.

“I’ve Never Encountered Liver Failure in One Day”

Continuing to respond to the president’s questions about Ms. Tsakona’s report, he said: “I have never encountered liver failure in one day; the child was well. Both I and Mr. Kalogrias spoke to her, and she insisted that the child had liver failure.”

Earlier, as he concluded his testimony at the trial, pathologist Christos Eftychidis, when asked by Alexis Kougias whether he attributes Malena’s death to criminal activity, said: “I cannot exclude it, but I also cannot confirm it. However, if someone asks me ‘Do these findings align with asphyxiation?’ I would say ‘yes.’”