Greece: Unidentified girl found in a Roma gypsy camp

The day before yesterday during a police operation in the ROMA camp in Farsala and during the lawful search in the house of two natives, a 39-year old man and a 40-year old woman, the police officers found out that a young girl of about 4 years old stayed with them.

The girl has white skin (fair complexion), blond hair and green eyes, features totally different from those of her alleged parents.

The two ROMA natives were taken to the Security Sub-directorate of Larissa and during their questioning by the competent police officers, they changed repeatedly their story about how they got the child; a fact that strengthened the conviction of the officers that the little girl was not the child of the above mentioned individuals.

DNA testing showed that there was not any genetic compatibility of heredity between the girl’s DNA data and those of the 39-year old man and the 40-year old woman.

In the progress of the investigations it emerged that the two ROMA natives in 2009, have taken the girl away from her biological parents under unknown till now circumstances. They have also managed to snatch from the Birth Registry of the Municipality of Athens the girl’s birth and christening certificate.

Moreover, it has been established that the 40-year old woman has two (2) valid Police Identity Cards that bear different data. She has, at the same time, two (2) different family registers / files, one at the Municipality of Larissa, where she has been registered as the mother of five (5) girls and of one (1) boy, and another one at the Municipality of Trikala, where she has been registered as the mother of four (4) girls.

It is to be emphasized that according to the above mentioned family registers, the 40-year old woman appears that in a 5-month time-period, from June till November 1993, had given birth to three (3) children, while in 3 ½ months, from October 1994 till February 1995, to three (3) more children. The 39-year old man has also a third family register at the Municipality of Farsala, where he is registered as the father of four (4) more children.

It is to be noted that the two ROMA natives have managed to acquire a tax registration number under the personal data of the under-age girl.

The two ROMA in question got arrested and a legal file was opened against them; it includes the crime of the abduction of a minor and the consecutive crime of the fraudulent misappropriation of a false certificate.

A psychologist from the General Police Division of Thessaly region has offered psychological support to the under-age girl. Moreover, by order of the competent Magistrates Court Prosecutorial Authorities, following a request submitted by the Security Sub-directorate of Larissa, the custody of the little girl was temporarily deprived from the two Roma and the girl was taken to the “SMILE OF THE CHILD” Association on 17/10/2013.

The Security Sub-division of the Police Directorate of Larissa goes on with the investigations in order to solve in full this case. In the context of the national and international cooperation, co-competent Services assist the investigations.

By oral order of the Court of the First Instance Public Prosecutor of Larissa, photos of the little girl have been published in the mass media. Anyone who may know anything about this case, is kindly requested to call the phone numbers 2410-683171 and 2410-683184 / 5 of the Security Sub-division of Larissa.