Anger, shock and sadness are the only emotions suitable to describe the reaction of the public, to the news that a six year old girl, who had gone missing yesterday was eventually found strangled, wrapped up in a black plastic refuse bag and dumped in a rubbish skip.
The body of six year old Stiliani Eikosipendaki, was discovered during a search by police officers with dogs, in Agia Varvara in Athens late on Thursday. She had been murdered – strangled by her own father, who then put her inside the plastic bag, along with her favourite blanket and dumped her body in the rubbish skip, on the road.
The officers who found her late last night could not believe their eyes, when they saw the sweet little girl, lifeless and with obvious signs of the strangulation she had suffered. Her father, 61 years old and an ex-police officer himself, gave police instructions on where they would find her body, whilst being questioned about her disappearance.
From the very first minute, when the man, reported his daughter missing early yesterday morning, the police were suspicious of what he was telling them. He was not consistent with what he told them and his behaviour was not appropriate under the circumstances. In just a few short hours, he gave three different versions of how she had disappeared.
He finally broke down and explained what had really happened. In his statement, he said that his wife was in hospital for an operation and he had the sole care of his daughter, who suffered from physical disabilities. The child was crying constantly and asking for her mother, when the 61 year old father tried to calm her down by shaking her, but to no avail. It was an accident, he insisted to the police, when he held her in his arms, grabbed her by the neck and put his hand over her mouth to stop her crying. And she did.
In his car, police found large quantities of tranquillisers hidden under the spare tyre, and they, along with the vehicle, have been taken away for analysis for forensics.