Mother convicted of murdering son: Appeal dismissed
The Federal Court of Justice has dismissed the appeal of a mother sentenced to three and a half years in prison for the murder of her son in need of care as unfounded. The verdict against the now 54-year-old woman is thus legally binding, the Hildesheim Regional Court announced on Friday regarding the decision of the Federal Court of Justice on November 1. The regional court chamber had established the murder criterion of malice aforethought. However, the court was convinced that the woman from Sarstedt acted in a state of significantly reduced culpability because she was unable to cope with the care of the disabled 17-year-old.
During the trial, the woman admitted that she had given her son a lethal dose of medication in a chocolate pudding: "I didn't know what else to do," she said in tears. The teenager had Prader-Willi syndrome - a rare, genetic disability with physical and mental symptoms. These included outbursts of rage and compulsive behavior, and later psychosis.
In March 2021, the chamber found that the mother decided to kill both the boy and herself. She ate poisoned applesauce, but was found and resuscitated. The teenager, on the other hand, died.
According to the court, the woman's confession was taken into account in her favor when sentencing. However, the fact that the 17-year-old was particularly vulnerable due to his illness had a detrimental effect. The 54-year-old will now have to serve the sentence once it becomes legally binding, the court announced.
The dismissal of the mother's appeal by the Federal Court of Justice upholds the three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for her role in her son's murder, making the judgments against her definitive. The criminal processes leading to this outcome revealed that the mother, having admitted to administering a lethal drug to her son with Prader-Willi syndrome in a moment of desperation, was deemed to have acted with reduced culpability due to her inability to handle his care but was still found guilty of the crime.
Source: www.dpa.com
