Father, mother behind bars for brutal abuse of underaged children

An appeals court in the northern port city of Thessaloniki has sentenced a 36-year-old Greek man and his 37-year-old Romanian wife to 14 years behind bars each for brutally abusing their two underaged children.

The family lived in a village outside the northern town of Katerini where, according to the case file, the couple ordered the two children, a 9-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister, to commit robberies. The siblings, the court heard, would be savagely beaten if they returned from their forays empty-handed.

Medical evidence presented in court showed that the brother and sister had sustained multiple abrasions, bruises, fractures and burns. The two siblings have been placed in foster care.