The Roula Pispirigou Three-Daughter Murder Cases

The deaths of three sisters from Patras over a span of less than three years became one of Greece's most closely watched criminal cases. Roula Pispirigou, their mother, was convicted first for the murder and attempted murder of her eldest daughter Georgina, and later for murdering her two younger daughters, Malena and Iris.

The three girls

Malena died in 2019 while receiving hospital treatment. Iris died in 2021 at six months old. Georgina, the eldest daughter, died in January 2022 at age nine while hospitalized in Athens.

Early explanations for the deaths did not initially produce murder charges against their mother. Georgina's death and the later investigation led authorities to re-examine the earlier deaths of Malena and Iris.

The Georgina case

In a separate criminal proceeding, an Athens Mixed Jury Court found Pispirigou guilty in March 2024 of murdering nine-year-old Georgina and of an earlier attempted murder of the same child.

The court accepted the prosecution case that Georgina was killed with a fatal dose of ketamine on January 29, 2022, while she was being treated at an Athens children's hospital. The court also found that an earlier medical crisis in 2021 resulted from an attempted killing.

Pispirigou received life imprisonment for Georgina's murder. She has denied intentionally killing her daughter and pursued an appeal.

The Malena and Iris trial

Malena and Iris were tried together in a second case rather than being treated as separate page-level incidents. On March 18, 2025, the Athens Mixed Jury Court unanimously convicted Pispirigou of the intentional murders of both younger girls.

The court imposed two additional life sentences, one for each murder. The prosecution case, accepted by the court, was that the two younger children died by asphyxiation. Pispirigou continued to deny responsibility and said she would challenge the verdicts.

Why this is one case file

Although the convictions arose from separate proceedings and involved three deaths, they are presented here as one family-crime dossier. The investigations, defendant, victims and later reassessment of the earlier deaths are substantially connected. Splitting the sisters into three pages would artificially inflate the country's case count.

Appellate status in 2026

The convictions should not be described as though all appellate proceedings are exhausted. In January 2026, the appeal hearing relating to Georgina's murder was postponed to September 18, 2026.

As of this page's September 2, 2026 review date, that hearing had not yet occurred. The first-instance convictions and life sentences therefore remain the operative judgments, but the legal process is still ongoing. This file will not label an appeal as an acquittal or a final reversal unless a court actually changes the verdict.

What is established and what remains contested

The established legal facts are the three murder convictions and the attempted-murder conviction involving Georgina. Pispirigou's position is that she did not intentionally kill her children. Her continued denial is recorded as a defense position, not as a judicial finding.

Timeline

1. 2019
   Malena dies

   Three-year-old Malena dies while hospitalized. Her death is later re-examined in the criminal investigation.

2. 2021
   Iris dies

   Six-month-old Iris dies. Her death is later prosecuted together with Malena's.

3. January 29, 2022
   Georgina dies

   Nine-year-old Georgina dies while hospitalized in Athens.

4. March 29, 2024
   Georgina verdict

   Pispirigou is convicted of Georgina's murder and an earlier attempted murder and receives life imprisonment.

5. March 18, 2025
   Malena and Iris verdicts

   A second court unanimously convicts Pispirigou of murdering both younger daughters and imposes two additional life sentences.

6. January 12, 2026
   Georgina appeal postponed

   The appellate hearing is postponed to September 18, 2026.

Current status

Adjudicated, with appeals pending. Roula Pispirigou has three murder convictions and three life sentences from the two first-instance trials described here. The Georgina appeal had not yet been heard as of September 2, 2026.