Disabled Athens woman confined to balcony for 8 years
A 77-year-old ethnic Greek from Russia and a male relative have been arrested in Athens on suspicion of abusing a disabled woman they were meant to be caring for.
Authorities said that the 36-year-old victim was confined to a wheelchair and had spent most of the eight years since her mother’s death isolated on the balcony of her home in Kallithea, southern Athens.
Her carers allegedly kept the woman on a balcony looking out onto a lightwell while they collected her monthly pension of 1,200 euros.
The case was only uncovered when neighbors notified authorities this summer.
It is not clear why suspicions had not been raised earlier.
Police raided the home on July 8 and found the 36-year-old woman with a broken leg that had been placed in a makeshift cast.
She was taken to the Erythros Stavros Hospital in Athens, where she is still being treated.
