The horrific abuse of little Angelos at the hands of his 26-year-old mother and 44-year-old stepfather shocked Greece. The 3-year-old boy, now in the “neighborhood of angels,” gave hope for life to two other people in Greece and Germany through his tragic death. His kidneys were transplanted into a 37-year-old man who had been undergoing dialysis for the past 17 years in Thessaloniki. His heart was transported to Berlin to be transplanted into another child. Angelos, who lived through hell, gave life to others.

The torture the helpless child endured is recorded in detail in the case file documenting the fatal abuse he suffered at the hands of the very people who were supposed to care for and raise him. Burn marks from extinguished cigarettes on his small body, bruises, old and new contusions covering his body, liver trauma, and a brain hematoma are just some of the horrifying findings that left the experienced doctors at the University Hospital of Crete speechless.

The death of Angelos and his grandparents’ decision to donate his organs inspired awe. The doctors who fought to save his life honored his memory by observing a minute of silence in the cold operating room. “I was the first to say, ‘Oh my God, what are we about to do? How can we remove vital organs from such a tiny body?'” said lead surgeon Vasilis Vougas, who performed the organ retrieval for transplantation.

However, Angelos’s tragic end did not seem to shock his abusers, who are now in prison, facing charges not of attempted murder but of homicide, a crime punishable by life imprisonment. Indifferent to the child’s condition, the two defendants were only concerned with shifting the blame onto each other during their interrogation.

The 26-year-old mother claimed that her partner beat the child with the wooden bar from his crib. The 44-year-old stepfather, on the other hand, denied ever hitting the boy. He stated that he had wanted to report the mother for abuse but was afraid to do so.

“In a Coma”

The horrific conditions in which the child lived became immediately apparent to the paramedics who arrived at the ground-floor house of horrors in Heraklion on the morning of January 26.

“At 9:06 AM, we arrived at a ground-floor apartment where a man was waiting outside to lead us in. Inside the living room, a woman was present, and on the couch lay a 3-year-old boy who was in a coma. He was breathing but unresponsive and ice-cold,” the doctor who accompanied the paramedics testified.

“With a closer look, I noticed that the left side of his face was red. I asked what had happened, and the man responded that before calling the ambulance, the boy had fallen and hit his head on the coffee table,” the doctor added. “As I continued examining the boy, I saw that his fingernails had hematomas, and there was an older injury on the back of his right foot. I then asked the woman present, who identified herself as the child’s mother, if he had been ill in recent days. She told me that for the past two days, he had a cold, nothing more, and added that he had a general problem with his genitals, telling me verbatim, ‘He has a general problem with his little thing.’ However, regarding the cold, she stated that the child was not taking any antibiotics.”

Shocked by the mother’s response and attitude, the doctor told the police that she took a blanket from the house, wrapped the child in it, and transported him to the ambulance. “On the way to the hospital, the child had two seizures and exhibited dilated pupils throughout the transport,” she said.

“Bruises Everywhere”

Doctors at the University Hospital of Heraklion quickly realized the extent of the abuse the little boy had suffered and suspected that his condition might be irreversible.

“The child had no circulation, cold extremities, and dilated pupils. He had multiple bruises and contusions of different ages,” testified the first doctor who examined the 3-year-old upon his arrival at the hospital at 9:26 AM on January 26. This assessment was soon confirmed by the initial forensic report.

“The minor arrived at the hospital in a comatose state (Glasgow Coma Scale 3/15), exhibiting decerebrate posturing, dilated pupils unresponsive to light stimuli, hemodynamic instability, rapid breathing, and visible bruises and injuries of various ages all over his body,” stated the first forensic report.

Doctors deemed intubation necessary and rushed the child into surgery due to a severe brain hematoma. Following the procedure, Angelos remained in critical and deteriorating condition. A subsequent CT scan revealed extensive bleeding in his brain. Another surgery was deemed impossible.

“This case carries significant medical severity in terms of prognosis, with almost no documented chances of survival. The overall clinical picture is consistent with abuse,” the forensic report noted. A second forensic examination later revealed even more horrifying findings: the boy had suffered liver trauma, an injury attributed to a kick, which likely occurred on the same day he was taken to the hospital.

The Statements

During her testimony at the Heraklion court, Angelos’s 26-year-old mother attempted to justify the unjustifiable, further provoking outrage with her stance. She blamed everything on her partner.

“After about a month of knowing him, he started being violent toward the child. He would hit him with the wooden bar from the crib, striking him on the hands. This started in late November or early December,” she told the investigating judge.

Later in her testimony, she admitted that although she had witnessed the abuse, she did nothing to stop it because she was afraid:

“I was there when he hit the child. I would take the wooden bar away and hug my son. The first time, I threw the bar outside into the yard, but he would always retrieve it. I tried talking to him, but he never listened. Throughout all of this, I was afraid to speak out because I feared he would hurt me too. He never physically restrained me, hit me, or threatened to kill me, but I was still too scared to say anything.”

“I Was Afraid…”

Angelos’s mother denied any involvement in his abuse when recounting the events of the day he was taken to the hospital.

“On the last day, January 26, I woke up normally with my child. I got up, washed him, cleaned him, and then my partner asked for coffee. I went to buy coffee, just a minute away at the kiosk, because he drinks instant coffee. When I came back home, I saw my child on the couch with his eyes rolled back. He was lying on his back, and my partner was next to a little girl. I asked what had happened, and he said he had heard shouting and came in. I grabbed my son’s hand, and my partner told me, ‘You leave.’ He gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR. The child made a sound, said ‘Mama,’ and then nothing. Then the ambulance arrived. His fingers were swollen and blackened from the beatings. I was screaming, asking what had happened, and my partner told me the boy tried to get up, lost consciousness, and hit the coffee table.”

The Stepfather’s Testimony

The 44-year-old stepfather also attempted to deflect blame, portraying himself as a passive witness.

“She (the mother) was jealous because the child was very attached to me,” he claimed in his testimony. “That’s when the arguments started. On December 16, she hit him on the lips, and he bled. I was there. She struck him with her hand, and he bled a little. The second time, I didn’t see her hit him, but I saw his hands bruised. She didn’t hit him on the forehead; he bumped into the bed. He loved dogs a lot, always hugging them. But she would hit the child. We got engaged because she promised to change. I was afraid to react to what I saw. I feared that if I reported her, I would also suffer consequences. I was scared to go to the police. I didn’t want to hurt her, which is why I didn’t file an anonymous report. I am cowardly and foolish. I hesitated at the time because I’m indecisive. I wanted to protect both the boy and her. Angelos loved me deeply, and I didn’t want to lose his love.”

The Last Day

Regarding the day Angelos was taken to the hospital in a dire state, leading to both suspects’ arrests, the 44-year-old stepfather claimed the mother had gone to buy coffee from the supermarket while the boy sat on the rug. He then described hearing a loud “thud” and finding the child unconscious:

“I found the child near the corner of the table. He had hit his forehead but wasn’t bleeding. I don’t remember clearly if he passed out and then hit his head. He was sitting on the rug. I told him, ‘Don’t get up, stay there,’ because I always told him not to get up to avoid getting hurt. But he got up, and this happened. He fell. I turned around immediately, and he was unconscious. I put him under the faucet, splashed water on him. I realized he had hit his head. In my panic, I put him under running water. I started shouting for help, ‘Help, my Angelos!’ A neighbor came and gave first aid to the child. Then the ambulance arrived. I can’t explain what happened.”