Galery

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A boy, aged 11, who was found with severe knife wounds at the parking lot of a hotel on the island of Crete, is out of danger. However, he has serious injuries and his condition is serious too.

The child is from Russia and he is on vacation with his family. On Tuesday afternoon, he and his parents were in the entertainment room of the luxury hotel in Anisara in the region of Hersonissos. At some point, the child found out that both his laptop and cell phone were missing and he insisted on going to look for them.

At about 9:00 pm, his parents were worried by the fact that he had not returned to the room and started looking for him. They could not find him for three hours and at midnight, reported him missing at the police station in Hersonissos.

The authorities launched an urgent investigation and at 02:30 am, they found the boy, who had a large number of bloody stab wounds, in one of the hotel's parking lots. However, before he lost consciousness, he was able to tell the police that the clown of the hotel had attacked and wounded him.

The coroner in Crete found 20 stab wounds on the child's body. The examination found no evidence of sexual assault but genetic samples were taken for detailed analysis.

Initially, the boy was taken to a hospital on the island but because of his serious condition, he had to be transported to the Children's Hospital in Athens by military aircraft type C-130.

Today's official release of the Ministry of Health states that the boy had been stabbed with a sharp object in the chest, spine and lower limbs.

During the subsequent operation, the surgeons found spinal cord injuries as well. Currently, the boy, aged 11, is in the intensive care ward of the hospital and the final assessment of his condition will be made after he leaves the emergency ward. Psychiatric support has been provided for his relatives with the help of translators from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Meanwhile, the attacker had confessed his act before the police in Crete and behaved in a very provocative way at the time of the hearing. He is a Dutch citizen, aged 20 and a week ago, he was employed for a trial period as a clown for the kids - guests of the hotel.

According to his testimony, while the child was seeking his missing belongings, he found the Dutchman holding them in his hands and asked him to return them. As the attacker confessed, the insistence of the child had made him nervous and he had told him to go with him to the parking lot of the hotel to return his belongings there.

When they got there, however, he began hitting and stabbing the child with a penknife, and when he saw that the child fell to the ground covered with blood he left him there. The police state that when they started looking for the child, the Dutchman too took part in the search.

He tried to jump over the fence of the hotel and flee but policemen caught him and detained him as a suspect. Then, the authorities found the stolen items in his backpack and arrested him.

According to the local news portal cretalive.gr, the young man had spent his last two vacations in the region and this year, the person in charge of the entertainment activities of the hotel had offered him work as a clown. The Dutchman had been employed for a trial period starting from last Friday.

According to journalists from Crete, during the interrogation, the attacker was constantly asking when the procedure would be completed in order for him to go. He was surprised that his victim was still alive and said that he had intended to bury the body somewhere after he finished work.

A pre-trial file has been composed against the Dutchman, who is expected to appear before the prosecutor in Heraklion today.