Woman kills 9 newborn babies over the course of 10 years

BrokenVisage

Lifer
Jan 29, 2005
24,771
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FRANKFURT AN DER ODER, Germany (Reuters) - A German mother accused of killing nine newborn babies over the course of a decade and burying them in flower pots went on trial on Thursday in a case that has shocked the nation.

Lawyers for the 40-year old woman, identified as Sabine H. from the eastern city of Frankfurt an der Oder, said at the start of the trial that their client would not take the stand to defend herself.

The unemployed dental assistant is charged with eight counts of manslaughter as the statute of limitations on the first of the nine deaths has expired. She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Police in the eastern state of Brandenburg discovered the bones of nine newborns buried in flower pots, buckets and a fish tank after a neighbour of the woman's parents stumbled upon the remains of some of the babies while clearing out their garage last July.


The woman has told investigators that she was alone when she gave birth to the babies and in most of the cases under the influence of large amounts of alcohol.

She admits to having left the first two to die, but denies intentionally killing them and says she cannot remember the circumstances of the last seven deaths because she was in a drunken stupor.

"I did not kill them deliberately. I just left them alone and didn't take care of them," she said of the first two babies in a pre-trial deposition that was read out in court by chief judge Matthias Fuchs.

WORST CHILD KILLINGS

The deaths of the babies, which occurred between 1988 and 1998, has been described as postwar Germany's worst series of child killings and sparked shock that the crime went undetected for so long.

The woman has said that her former husband, who fathered the seven girls and two boys that died, spent long periods away from home because of their marital problems and was not aware of her pregnancies.

The couple had three children that are now grown before the deaths took place and the woman has one two-year old child by another man.

A day after her arrest last year, Sabine H. spoke of a "vicious circle" that began with her fourth pregnancy in 1988.

Her husband had been against having more children, she said, and she had kept the pregnancy secret from him, eventually giving birth over the toilet where the baby allegedly drowned.

The woman said she then began drinking heavily to banish the vision of her "blue faced" baby from her mind.
She did not consider getting abortions over the years because of fears that a doctor would discover her prior births.

In preliminary proceedings, she described putting the dead babies in plastic bags and then burying them in flower pots, some of which she kept on her balcony to be near her children.

Prosecutors had initially wanted Sabine H. to face murder charges but the court ordered the charges reduced to manslaughter because the crimes occurred against a backdrop of alcohol abuse and family problems.

Wow, just, wow. 15 years for the death of 9 babies, eh? Outrageous even for Germany.
 

bdude

Golden Member
Feb 9, 2004
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whats funnier than ten dead babies in one flowerpot?
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one dead baby in ten flowerpots

edit: tailored
 

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
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What's the difference between a cadillac and a pile of dead babies?



I don't have a cadillac in my garage.
 

DaShen

Lifer
Dec 1, 2000
10,710
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How many babies does it take to paint a wall?

One, if you throw it hard enough. ;) :p <shudders>
 

Ktulu

Diamond Member
Dec 16, 2000
4,354
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Originally posted by: bdude
whats funnier than ten dead babies in one flowerpot?
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one dead baby in ten flowerpots

edit: tailored

come on dude, that was uncalled for
 

kogase

Diamond Member
Sep 8, 2004
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Seems like an appropriate sentence. Maybe a bit too harsh... but a newborn baby isn't a person in my book, just a potential person.
 

ForumMaster

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2005
7,792
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only 15 years? that's outrageous! even if she had problems and was drunk, only 15 years for taking the life of 9 babies? there's Germany for you...
 

UNCjigga

Lifer
Dec 12, 2000
25,118
9,510
136
Wait...there's a statute of limitations on manslaughter? Is that the same in the US? I know murder doesn't have one, but I didn't think manslaughter did.
 

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
4
81
Originally posted by: kogase
Seems like an appropriate sentence. Maybe a bit too harsh... but a newborn baby isn't a person in my book, just a potential person.

Tell me about it, I think it should be legal to kill anyone under 18. After all, they're only potential people. :roll:
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
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fobot.com
i would lock her up in the mental hospital for the criminally insane, she is crazy

the institutional kind of crazy
 

bigrash

Lifer
Feb 20, 2001
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wtf?

was she trying to bury them in a flowerpot so that she could grow babies?
 

LookingGlass

Platinum Member
Jul 8, 2005
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Originally posted by: bigrash
wtf?

was she trying to bury them in a flowerpot so that she could grow babies?

It's the Ultimate in fertilizer, didn't you hear? :Q ¬¬

That woman should be hung.
 

kogase

Diamond Member
Sep 8, 2004
5,213
0
0
Originally posted by: Kev
Originally posted by: kogase
Seems like an appropriate sentence. Maybe a bit too harsh... but a newborn baby isn't a person in my book, just a potential person.

Tell me about it, I think it should be legal to kill anyone under 18. After all, they're only potential people. :roll:

I think around 2-3 is the "person cutoff". Of course, that would never fly with most of the country, so one has to go with the "survive outside of the womb" line.