A Greek judge on Monday gave temporary custody of Caroline Crouch’s 12-month-old daughter Lydia to her family.
The temporary custody is for 30 days, before the court decides on the permanent custody of the girl in July.
The parents of Babis Anagnostopoulos, in prison for killing his wife, will have access to Lydia during the 30 days, and have expressed the desire to have joint custody of the baby from the months of October to April so that it can be in Athens and then live on the island of Alonissos, with Caroline’s parents, during the summer months.
Shortly after 9am on Tuesday, Georgia Anagnostopoulou, the grandmother of the child from the father’s side, came out of her house, clutching the baby, covering its face to protect it from the photojournalists who had gathered around her house from the early hours of the morning.
READ MORE: Greek husband confesses to killing Caroline Crouch, partly blames her behaviour
Accompanied by her other son, they drove the baby to Susan, Caroline Crouch’s mother, at another unidentified location.
Crouch’s family who live on the island of Alonissos have asked for sole custody of the child. A lawyer for the family, Thanasis Harmanis, conveyed a statement from Caroline’s mother while speaking to ANT1 TV, which said: “He (Anagnostopoulos) took my child from me; if I lose my granddaughter, it will be a death blow.”
Caroline Crouch, the baby’s mother was murdered on 11 May. The man who confessed to the killing was her father, who initially blamed the murder on a Albanian nationals who had invaded their home and killed his wife and family dog in a botched robbery attempt.
The woman’s counsellor has revealed that Caroline had been scared of her husband and looking for another place to move to in the months preceding her death, reports Ta Nea newspaper.
She had wanted to leave in November and find a home near a cooking school she planned to attend.
Lawyer Stamatia Markou revealed information which Caroline told her counsellor.
