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Avignon Court Sentences Mother to 25 Years Over Deaths of Two Newborns in Freezer

The case turned on expert reports that failed to establish intent to kill.

Overview

  • The Cour d'assises de Vaucluse, which delivered its verdict Friday in Avignon, sentenced AurĂ©lie S., 44, to 25 years in prison.
  • Jurors rejected murder and found her guilty of deprivation of care, a failure to give basic help that caused the deaths of babies born in 2018 and 2019.
  • Medical experts said the first baby, Allia, had skull injuries that did not match the fall she described, and they could not tell why the second baby died.
  • She admitted putting both newborns in a freezer after deciding they were dead without calling for help or trying to revive them, and she said she acted in panic.
  • The court also convicted her of violence against her three older daughters, and the 25-year term exceeds the 18 years sought by the prosecutor and is harsher than sentences in past French neonaticide cases.