on 19-10-2013 08:08 AM
Who is she? Police are appealing for help identifying this four-year-old girl who was found on a gypsy camp in Greece after she was allegedly abducted
Greek authorities have requested international help to identify a four-year-old girl found living in appalling conditions in a gypsy camp with a couple whom they have arrested and charged with abducting her.
The child was found on Wednesday near Farsala in central Greece during a routine search of the camp by police looking for drugs and weapons.
The girl reportedly sparked one of the officer's curiosity as she is blonde, pale skinned and bore no resemblance to the other Roma children or the couple who claimed to be her parents.
A 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman have been arrested and charged with abducting a minor.
Police said they offered conflicting accounts about the girl, one claiming that she was found in a blanket, the other claiming she had been handed to them by strangers.
Police said today that DNA testing proved the girl, who is believed to be called Maria, was not related to the couple.
'Her features suggest that she might be from an eastern or northern (European) country,' regional police chief Panayiotis Tzavaras said.
Police have notified Interpol for assistance.
Detectives say they also found drugs and unregistered firearms in other parts of the settlement, which is about 280 kilometers (170 miles) north of Athens.
The police statement said the couple claimed to have a total 14 children, and had registered different numbers with authorities in three different parts of Greece.
Officers found three minors living with them in the settlement who appear to be their children - although that hasn't yet been verified by DNA testing.
The case bears a disturbing similarity to theories about the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who went missing on a family holiday in Portugal on May 3, 2007.
The girl is now in the care of the charity 'A child's smile,' which said today it has sought the assistance of European and global groups for lost or abused children in tracking her parents.
She does not speak other languages than Roma but appears to understand Greek and is being communicated with by sign language.
She was said to traumatised when she arrived at her care home but has since settled and is living in a safe family environment with other children of her age.
Distress: Dirty and grimacing as her photo is taken, the little girl is now the centre of an international appeal. Authorities hope her parents can be found so the family can be reunited
Police said the child was found near Farsala in central Greece during a crackdown on illegal activities by Roma
A medical examination is ongoing.
Panayiotis Pardalis, a spokesman for the charity, said: 'It was obvious that she was not a Roma girl.
'She was afraid and under some psychological pressure when she arrived. Colleagues have been trying to communicate but are struggling.
'She seems to understand Greek but cannot speak it. She was living under bad conditions and was very dirty but is now safe.'
Charity director Costas Giannopoulos said the child was undergoing medical examinations.
'We are shocked by how easy it is for people to register children as their own,' he told private Skai TV.
on 19-10-2013 03:25 PM
@***super_nova*** wrote:This little girl looks Yugoslav or maybe Russian. I cannot see why the gypsies would kiddnap her and keep her. Yes, I can see that they could be involved in stealing babies for adoption, but kid that can already speak? Does the article say what language she is speaking?
I can imagine number of situations why would the child be left with the gypsies. She does look frightened, but wouldn't you if you were 4 y.o. and you were taken by the police from your "parents"? These people may possibly be the only parents she knew, and she is as dirty and unkept as any of the other kids in the gypsy camp.
The article says she speaks Roma and understands Greek, no other languages.
on 19-10-2013 06:52 PM
My first thought was she looked Swedish
on 19-10-2013 06:59 PM
'Her features suggest that she might be from an eastern or northern (European) country
..that is a wide range of countries.
If she has been brought up by the Roma gypsies from a very young age, and she was found living in Greece, that explains those 2 languages?
on 19-10-2013 07:08 PM
@twinkles**stars wrote:My first thought was she looked Swedish
She has the fair skin and fair hair that Swedish people have, I suppose she could come from any countries around there. I hope that they do find her parents.
on 19-10-2013 07:19 PM
It would be good if the Roma gypsies that had care of her, would tell the authorities where they got her from,even if it was what country or even better which town/city.
on 19-10-2013 08:35 PM
@am*3 wrote:'Her features suggest that she might be from an eastern or northern (European) country
..that is a wide range of countries.
If I had to guess, I would say Russian.
Poor child Hope they find the parents soon.
on 20-10-2013 08:08 AM
@purple_haize wrote:
@twinkles**stars wrote:My first thought was she looked Swedish
She has the fair skin and fair hair that Swedish people have, I suppose she could come from any countries around there. I hope that they do find her parents.
Some Swedish people do, but this sort of very pale skin and light coloured eyes and dainty features is something that you see in many people in Yugoslavia & Russia. Actually I do not think she looks Swedish/Viking at all, and considering that she is in Greece, right next to Yugoslavia, it is much more likely that is where she came from. Also Swedish baby gone missing would spark as much publicity as Maddy. On the other hand a baby that belongs to some desperate people from Eastern Europe trying to get smuggled to UK may very well been left with the Gypsies with the intention to get her as soon as they get some money together. Her parents would have found that people smugglers will not take them with little baby that may cry and bring attention of the officers at the border to the truck. The parents could have died on the way, or they found that it is not so easy to get her to UK.
on 20-10-2013 08:30 AM
Why poor child? And why assume she was abducted? The articles all say "she was loved as if she were one of their own and is in good health".
It would be a pretty quick process to match up an unaccounted child with parents who have reported their child missing, so I suspect she wasn't abducted but simply given to this couple. I think this sort of thing happens more than we can imagine.
on 20-10-2013 10:13 AM
Photo of children from Bosnia, this little girl looks as she would fit in this photo 🙂
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrafter/146495753/
on 20-10-2013 10:48 AM
why don't they just ask the couple who had her with them?