Murder charge dropped against mother of nine dead babies
A court has dropped the murder charge against the mother of nine babies found dead in eastern Germany last year and will try her instead for manslaughter.
The state court in Frankfurt an der Oder ruled there was insufficient evidence the woman intended to hide her alleged crime – an argument prosecutors had used to justify the murder charge, said justice department spokesman Andreas Dielitz.
One of the deaths was covered by a statute of limitations, meaning the woman, identified only as Sabine H, is now charged with eight counts of manslaughter, Dielitz said.
The change means that the 40-year-old faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, rather than a life sentence, if found guilty of the alleged crimes which shocked Germans and drew attention to a string of child killings and abuse cases. Her trial is to begin on April 27.
Police arrested the woman after discovering the remains of the nine infants last July buried in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents’ home in a village near the Polish border.
