French court jails mother for 25 years over newborn deaths

AVIGNON - A French court on Friday jailed a 44-year-old woman for 25 years over the deaths of two of her newborn babies, who police found in the family freezer.

Throughout her trial in the southern city of Avignon, Aurelie S., a single mother, had denied intending to kill the babies.

But the court found her guilty of withholding care, leading to their deaths in 2018 and 2019, as well as being violent towards her three elder daughters, now aged between 13 and 23.

The defendant said the first infant died after she fell down the stairs while carrying the baby at home in the village of Bedoin, then panicked and put her in the freezer.

Forensic examination showed the infant's skull injury did not correspond to a fall, but the mother said she had never hit the baby.

In the second case, the accused said she gave birth at home after a denied pregnancy -- a syndrome where the mother refuses to acknowledge she is pregnant.

She said she passed out after a painful home birth, and the baby died shortly afterwards.
She said she panicked when her eldest daughter called her, so she placed the infant in the laundry basket, then "with her sister" in the freezer.

Experts said it was not clear whether the infant had died due to a tricky birth or a lack of care.

The case is the latest of a string of similar stories in France.

In 2018, a separate French court sentenced a woman with a depressive and sometimes violent husband to eight years in prison for drowning five of her newborn babies and freezing their bodies.

And in 2015, another court jailed a mother for nine years for killing eight of her newborns.