Dimitrina Borisova is appearing before the prosecutor on Thursday to explain her involvement in the murder of her 4-year-old child, Ani, who was tortured and killed by her father before her body was sliced, boiled and disposed off in trashcans around Athens. On Tuesday, the father confessed to how he killed his daughter after the child’s mother had left her in his care. Now, it is time for the mother to explain why she left the young girl in the care of a man she knew to be dangerous and how much she knew when she reported the child missing.

The father, Savvas, has already been charged with infanticide and is in an isolated cell at Corfu prison. Now it is time for the mother to give her testimony. During the initial investigation, she had told police:

“All I have testified in earlier depositions is not true. I said everything because I love him and because I believed that if I told the truth to police, Savvas would be in trouble. On March 20, I went to Germany to find my friend so that he could give me some money. While I was there, I spoke on the phone with Ani and when Savvas gave the child to his mother to take care of it, we talked and I asked him if the child is well.

All the times we spoke on the phone, Ani would tell me that she was well. The last time I spoke with Ani was on April 9. She told me that she is well with her father and that he was buying her chocolate eggs. After that, every time I spoke with Savvas until April 22 he told me that the child was with his mother and fine.

It was only on April 14, when I called him, he told me that he wasn’t well, crying. He said he didn’t want the money and just wanted me to come back home because something bad had happened to him. The same happened the next day when I called him and he said, ‘I want you to come back.’ I thought he had taken drugs and didn’t know what he was saying. 

The mother had said that the thought that her partner may have been hitting the child passed through her mind on April 22. She had said:

“I came back from Germany on April 22 and then Savvas told me that he had lost the kid. As soon as I found out, I searched around the neighborhood and in the afternoon we left for Bulgaria. We didn’t go to the police because Savvas told me that the “Smile of the Child” (children’s organization) would find the kid and that if I were to go to the police they would take it away because I left it with him, a drug addict. I told you the story about Sylvia (initial story concerning a friend who took the child) so that Savvas wouldn’t get in trouble and my child get taken away. I constantly asked Savvas what happened to the child and he kept coming up with different dates. Then I started thinking that Savvas may have hit the child and made her run away because she was scared. During the last few days I started to believe that the child may have hurt herself by accident in the house and died and Savvas have hid the body because he is afraid. When I came back from Germany Savvas told me that he sold Ani’s clothes for 50 euros to someone who works at a souvlaki place. When I asked him why he did this, he said ‘so that God can see and bring Ani back to us.'”

Earlier depositions

In earlier depositions, Borisova had said that she had left her daughter with “Sylvia” while she was away so that the police would not accuse Savvas of wrongdoing. She had given a description of the fictional woman to the authorities. She stated that Savvas was pressing her to leave for Bulgaria so that the police would not accuse her of being responsible for the child having gone missing.

During earlier questioning, Ani’s mother had said that her partner was crying when he told her that the child was missing. He said that on the earlier evening he had slept with the young girl in his arms but had left the keys on the door. The next morning the girl was gone.

The fake psychologist

On Wednesday, Maria Kalogeropoulou, claiming to be a psychologist for OKANA (Anti-Drug Center) was interviewed at various channels, giving details into the crime. According to her family, the 50-year-0ld suffers from psychological problems. The motive for her action was to help get leniency for the young father.