In December 2024, a horrifying case began to unfold involving the four children of a couple who were both police officers. The father had been raping the children since 2016, while the mother had also participated in these abusive acts. Yesterday, the Mixed Jury Court of Athens unanimously found the 46-year-old officer—who had served for years in the Hellenic Parliament guard—guilty and sentenced him to four life terms plus an additional 80 years in prison. In contrast, the mother was acquitted by majority, despite the prosecutor’s recommendation for her conviction.

The reasoning behind the acquittal raised questions, as the court stated that the woman was found not guilty due to “inability to recognize the wrongdoing” and because of a “significant dilemma.” How can a woman whose profession is to enforce the law be deemed incapable of understanding that an act is unlawful? However, such a provision does exist in the criminal code. As her defense lawyer, Ioannis Barkagiannis, explained in a written statement: “Despite the opposing prosecutorial proposal, the Mixed Jury Court of Athens declared my client not guilty of the charges of rape of minors, abuse of minors by a person in a position of trust, and incestuous acts, as it judged that these acts cannot be attributed to her due to an inability to avoid the wrongdoing, while she was under a regime of coercion, fear, and terror.”

Essentially, the main defense argument was accepted that the 46-year-old father, in addition to the children, had also been violent toward his ex-wife. The revelations about the hell the four children were living in began to emerge after the woman filed a complaint for domestic violence and threats against her. However, it was the children themselves who, speaking to specialist child psychologists, described in detail the horror that had been their daily life for years—so much so that one of the four had attempted to take their own life by jumping from a balcony.

When everything was revealed, the woman was pregnant with her fifth child. Both had been placed in pre-trial detention, and after his conviction yesterday, the 46-year-old former police officer was sent back to prison. He asked the court to recognize the mitigating factor of a previously lawful life, but this was rejected. The trial lasted for months but was held behind closed doors in order to prevent further public disclosure of what the four children had suffered and to allow them to be protected and, as much as possible, for their wounds to heal over time. The police officer heard the court’s verdict without any visible reaction.