Athens: Scuffles break out as child-killer suspect arraigned

A 33-year-old woman accused of killing her hospitalized daughter was led under heavy police guard to an Athens court for an arraignment on Monday as authorities investigate the deaths of her two other daughters.

In a case that has gripped public attention, the suspect was arrested last week after an anesthetic drug was found in tissue samples of her 9-year-old who died in January following a lengthy stay in hospital.

A panel of senior coroners is also leading a review into the deaths of the suspect’s two other children: a 3-year-old girl from liver failure in 2019 and a 6-month-old girl in 2021 from a suspected heart defect.

Riot police scuffled with onlookers and journalists at the Evelpidon court complex as they cleared the way to lead the suspect into the office of a public prosecutor to present her defense.

Some of the protesters – some also awaiting trial for separate offenses – chanted “death, death″ as they tried to break through the police cordon.

Authorities have not identified the woman, but her lawyers have named her as Roula Pispirigou from the Peloponnese port-city of Patras after she gave interviews to the local news media.

She has denied any wrongdoing, and her lawyers have pointed to the possibility of medical error. [AP]