Post date: Oct 22, 2013 1:35:51 PM
Residents of Farsala - where a mystery girl was found living with a Roma community - say they saw Maria begging with the Roma woman now held in custody accused of her abduction.
FARSALA, GREECE (OCTOBER 22, 2013) (REUTERS) - Residents of the town where a mystery girl was found living with a Roma community said on Tuesday (October 22) that they had seen her begging.
The Roma settlement lies just behind the town of Farsala, in central Greece. Residents said the Roma regularly beg in town and they had seen the girl with the woman now held for her abduction.
"I used to see the mother, she would come to the square here to beg with the child. At one point I had asked her how she got such a blonde angel, she told me she had conceived it with a blonde man," said Grigoria Niokas.
"Young ones come out to [beg]. They are very young. They come into the coffee shops. Some people give them something, others tell them to go away," said Vassilis Andreopoulos.
The discovery of the girl, known as Maria, has riveted Greece and prompted thousands of calls with leads from across the world as authorities try to track down her real parents, as DNA tests have shown she was not born to the Romas.
A Roma couple were on Monday (October 21) ordered held in custody pending trial after responding to charges of abduction and procuring false documents behind closed doors as more than a dozen policemen stood guard outside the courthouse.