Mother admits killing eight babies
A French nurse has admitted suffocating eight of her newborn babies and hiding their bodies at home.
Dominique Cottrez, 46, delivered the children herself, killed them and put them in plastic bags, she told police today.
Cottrez, married with two adult daughters, said that after a bad experience with her first pregnancy she never again wanted to see a doctor.
Two of the babies were buried in the garden of her home in village of Villers-au-Tertre, near Lille, and hid the rest in the garage, prosecutor Eric Vaillant said.
"She explained that she didn't want any more children and that she didn't want to see a doctor to take contraceptives," Mr Vaillant told a news conference. "She was perfectly conscious of the fact that she was pregnant each time."
Cottrez was charged with the killings today but her husband, Pierre-Marie Cottrez, who was arrested with her, was freed.
The deaths were uncovered after two corpses were discovered by the house's new owners in plastic bags in the garden. She admitted to killing them at birth about 10 years ago
Under questioning Cottrez admitted that there were six other corpses and said that they were in plastic bags in the garage.
She will undergo further psychiatric testing, Mr Vaillant said.
Her husband claimed that he knew nothing about the pregnancies. His wife is a large who apparently easily concealed her condition.
The couple's two daughters, who are in their 20s, have been questioned. Mr Vaillant refused to provide any further details about them.
Police sealed the doors, gate and windows of the house where the remains of some of the babies were discovered. DNA tests were being held to establish certain if the couple are the parents, and post mortem tests were being conducted to try to determine the cause of death.
France has seen a string of cases in recent years of mothers killing their babies and saving and hiding the corpses.
In one case, Celine Lesage was sentenced in March to 15 years in prison after admitting killing six of her babies, whose corpses were found in plastic bags in her basement.
Veronique Courjault was convicted last year of murdering three of her new-born children. Her husband discovered two of the corpses in a freezer while they two were living in South Korea. During the trial psychiatrists testified that she suffered from a psychological condition known as "pregnancy denial."
Germany also has seen similar cases. In one, a woman was convicted of manslaughter in 2006 and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison for killing eight of her newborn babies and burying them in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents' home.
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Robert Callus
Jul 30th 2010, 18:37
I am against abortion. However, I find it very hypocritical that most pro-life movements around the world, especially the US seem to believe that life STOPS at birth. They are the main supporters (including donating large sums of money) to the most right wing, brutal politicians that are responsible for wars, greed and famine (George Bush a case in point). Their main allies are usually the armaments industry and (in the US) those that believe in the most sacred human right of all - owning guns!
Elsie Caruana
Jul 29th 2010, 19:03
It's so shocking and shocking even more when you know that thousands of babies are being killed throughout Europe and around the globe in clinics, every body knows that they are all humans but what does the law call them ET's or what? Do they commit crimes to deserve being killed?The only thing is that poor fellows do not have voices!
Albert Farrugia
Jul 29th 2010, 16:27
So killing a newborn is a crime which shocks nations, yet killing the same individual a few weeks earlier does not even deserve a mention!! During the time needed to watch this video probably more than 8 abortions would have been performed in France alone. Yet noone expresses any shock. If you do, you will be called a Catholic bigot.
Is it me, or are we facing an extremely hypocritical situation here????
Jesmond Micallef
Jul 29th 2010, 16:56
Hypocrisy indeed it is, rest assured. !!
Edward Fenech
Jul 29th 2010, 17:49
Abortions a few weeks before birth are illegal unless the mother's life is in jeopardy.
Albert Farrugia
Jul 29th 2010, 19:26
Dear Mr Fenech,
a whole pregnancy lasts only 40 weeks...how do you justify that its "ok" to terminate a foetus's life at 23 weeks, yet illegal two weeks later? Fine, the stock reply is that after something like 24 weeks the foetus might be self-sufficient, in the sens that it can be possible for it to survive outside the womb. But, tell me, is even a newborn child "self-sufficient" without help from adults? More its becoming apparent that abortion is a modern European dogma, totally unjustifiable, but has to be observed because it has become a holy cow.
Mikiel Sciberras
Jul 29th 2010, 20:39
Yes I agree, total hypocrisy.
Killing of newborns or foetus is a crime but killing children and adults in wars and famine for corporate profits is not only alright, but the something that all nations must aspire and do their part in, even tiny Malta will be helping out in this global effort to make the super wealthy even richer. Vide the attack on pensions - this is just one aspect of the global cabal’s war against the common man and outright capitalistic greed. What is also so ironic, is that the same over supply of humans (indeed this the root of all poverty and pollution), is just what the Capitalists encourage and protect – more replaceable workers willing to work for the cheapest wages and for longer hours and years, and to booth, more people to buy the useless gadgets that their Corporate slave-run factories in China and the Far East produce, only to end up in landfills a few months later.
Pro-Lifers please do not stop at the foetus and babies, but the whole human person all through life's stages. A life of indentured slavery and poverty in old age, is no life at all.
Hypocrisy indeed!
Jesmond Micallef
Jul 30th 2010, 00:31
Those who are not pro-life are pro-death. In other words, suicidal, which is a mental disorder.
Those who are neutral are emotionally indifferent, which is an emotional disorder. The World Health Organisation did predict a worldwide pandemic of this sort.
Robert Agius
Jul 30th 2010, 14:25
So you make no distinction between a 4 week old fetus and a new born baby? Sorry to burst your bubble but there is a HUGE difference. Do you consider the morning after pill shocking too?
J. Hili
Jul 29th 2010, 16:18
What is the difference if she killed (aborted) them unborn? Do her neighbors do the same?
Jesmond Micallef
Jul 29th 2010, 16:34
Good one, its extremely interesting what you've just said here. There was a similar case in Germany not that long ago.