DNA test confirms Roma parents

Bulgarian authorities say a DNA test has confirmed that a Bulgarian Roma woman is the mother of the Greek mystery girl.

The girl has been in the care of a Greek charity after she was seized from the home of another Roma family.

Read: Bulgarian woman faces charges of selling 'Maria'

A Bulgarian Roma woman, Sasha Ruseva, has denied taking money for giving up her baby to another Roma family years ago, as she faces preliminary charges of selling the child known as Maria to a Greek couple.

Ms Ruseva, who has eight chiildren, said she gave birth to a girl while working as an olive picker in Greece “several years ago”, but said she was forced to leave the child behind because she could not afford to take her home.

She told Bulgarian TV: “I intended to go back and take my child home, but meanwhile I gave birth to two more kids so I was not able to go back.”

Bulgarian Roma woman Sasha Ruseva, who faces preliminary charges of selling the Greek child Maria, has been pictured with her fair-skinned, blonde-haired son Atanas.

Maria was taken away from a Greek couple after authorities suspected that she was unrelated, due to her blonde hair and fair skin which did not match the couple's dark hair and tanned skin. DNA tests have since confirmed that the child is unrelated to them.

Ms Ruseva has a second fair-skinned child, who has striking red locks. Ms Ruseva said she wanted Maria back if DNA tests prove she is her daughter.

A Roma woman in Bulgaria has undergone DNA testing to determine whether she is the mother of the mystery blonde girl Maria, who was taken from a couple in Greece after she was suspected to be unrelated to them.

The 35-year-old Blugarian, Sasha Ruseva, is now under investigation after she said she once left a baby behind in Greece. She faces preliminary charges of child-selling.

DNA tests show that the blonde-haired, pale-skinned child called Maria is not related to the Greek couple with whom she was found.