A woman who murdered her tetraplegic nine-year-old daughter was handed a life sentence in Greece today, found guilty of voluntary homicide with premeditation over the death of young Georgina. Roula Pispirigou, 35, was found to have poisoned her daughter with ketamine in 2022 after months spent lying in a hospital bed after suffering seizures leading to her paralysis.
Nurses reported that Georgina's mother was alone with her shortly before her sudden demise. According to court documents cited by local outlets, the autopsy revealed that Georgina succumbed to a lethal dose of ketamine administered less than 20 minutes before her death. Medical records indicated that staff had last attended to the nine-year-old approximately an hour prior to her passing.
Following a test on Georgina's muscle tissue that detected the presence of the anesthetic drug, her mother, Pispirigou, was arrested and questioned. On March 30, 2022, she was formally charged with the murder of her nine-year-old daughter.
The case incited national outrage, prompting protests and outcries from the public. Riot police were deployed outside the court as crowds gathered to voice their anger, and similar scenes unfolded outside Pispirigou's home in Patras, where police intervened to maintain order. Death threats against Pispirigou led the government to appeal for calm ahead of the verdict.
In addition to Georgina's death, Pispirigou is suspected of being involved in the deaths of her other daughters, Malena and Iris. Malena, aged three-and-a-half, passed away in 2019, initially diagnosed with acute liver failure. Iris, just six months old at the time of her death in 2021, was initially reported to have died from heart failure. However, subsequent tests conducted after Georgina's demise revealed signs of asphyxiation.
Forensic Pathologist and President of the Forensics Union in Greece, Grigoris Leon, confirmed that the 2022 exhumation of Pispirigou's other children affirmed that "criminal acts were the cause of death."