A Lucerne judge sentenced a 23-year-old woman to serve a year behind bars on Wednesday, after she beat one of her twin newborns to death in 2015.
Blick reports that the woman, identified only as “Jelica S.,” claimed she was seven months pregnant when went into labor on December 2015. She said she panicked and jumped into bathtub at a home she shared with her mother and sister in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The woman also claimed she did “not know how a child is born” and looked up instructions online on her laptop while in labor.
“I did not know how a child is born. I filled the bathtub when it started. I do not remember today how I did it. I lay in the bathtub and looked on the Internet, how to do it.”
After the birth of the first baby, a boy, Jelica admitted that she beat the infant before smashing him against a wall. She then threw him on the ground “with force.” The little boy died shortly after.
After the first baby passed away, Jelica wrapped his tiny body in a Mickey Mouse shirt, then stuffed him inside a pink teddy bear and hid him in a cellar.
“I just put him there. I do not know what went on in my head.”
Nearly 31 hours later, Jelica gave birth to another baby boy, who was reportedly stillborn. She wrapped the second infant in a towel and tossed him into a laundry basket.
Grossvater der Baby-Killerin: «Wir weinten bei jedem Brief aus dem Gefängnis» https://t.co/SyUCZHPl68
— Blick (@Blickch) February 1, 2019
A medical examiner said the first baby died from a traumatic brain injury and numerous skull fractures. A judicial medical expert testified during the woman’s trial that the second baby could have possibly been saved had the mother gotten to the hospital in time.
Authorities found out about the incident after Jelica checked into a hospital, profusely bleeding, following the births. Physicians recognized the medical signs that she had just given birth, but when she denied it, police were alerted. She initially denied the incident to police as well, but she was detained after her hospital release.
As investigators continued to question Jelica, the truth began trickling out. She said the father of the children wanted her to get an abortion. When she refused, he left her.
“He wanted me to abort, then he left me. I was alone,” she later explained in court.
Prosecutors, however, didn’t buy her story. They argued that she wanted to appear “naive,” yet had the background to understand about pregnancy and birth, and didn’t get an abortion because she couldn’t afford it.
“The accused has two faces. She is naive. In truth, she is tough and calculating. She lied to the authorities several times and adjusted her statements. An abortion at the doctor was simply too expensive for the accused.”
Although the prosecution wanted the woman to serve at least eight years in prison, her defense attorney argued that she was frightened because of her strict upbringing, while a psychiatrist testified that she had an”adjustment disorder with prolonged depressive reaction.”
“My client had a strict education,” the defense lawyer argued. “A sexual relationship before marriage is unthinkable for her parents.”
The judge presiding over the case ultimately sentenced Jelica to 12 months in prison, followed by 22 months on probation, claiming there it “subjectively was an emergency situation.”
[Feature Photo: Pexels]
