French Mum Admits Killing Eight Babies

A Frenchwoman has confessed to killing her eight newborn babies and hiding their bodies in a village, a judicial source has said



Dominique Cottrez, 47, and her husband Pierre-Marie were arrested over what could be France's biggest infanticide case.

The woman, a care worker from Villers-au-Tertre, about 125 miles
north of Paris, is accused of "deliberate homicides of minors under the
age of 15", which carries a life sentence.

Her husband, a carpenter in his 40s, was freed without charge, a prosecutor told reporters




But the source said Mrs Cottrez initially confessed in custody to
suffocating two children at birth about 10 years ago, before admitting
she murdered the other six.

Police had used sniffer dogs to search an address in
Villers-au-Tertre after the new owners of a home found the bones of two
infants while digging in their garden.

Sky's Alex Rossi, reporting from the village, said the house previously belonged to Mrs Cottrez's parents.

Search teams then headed on to the couple's home in another part of the village, where six more sets of remains were found

Rossi said: "We've heard from a police source that this woman may have been systematically killing her babies since 1988."

Neighbours were astonished at the couple's arrest. "They are normal
people, who even have a role in the community. It's incredible," said
one.

Another neighbour, a man in his 50s, added: "These are attractive,
helpful, polite and courteous people, who did nothing to make you think
them capable of anything abnormal."

The couple have two grown-up daughters and are grandparents, reports said

Experts on similar past cases said they often involve "denial of
pregnancy", when women refuse to accept they are pregnant, sometimes
leading to the murder of their children at birth.

Israel Nisand, professor of the University Hospital in Strasbourg,
said there were about 500 cases of woman denying their pregnancies each
year around the world.

He said: "It's serious and dangerous, but not very well known about.

"The state of mind worries us all and, in the case of women who kill their children, it is shocking for everybody."



Infanticide In Europe

:: In March, Celine Lesage admitted killing six of her newborns, whose corpses were found in her basement in northwest France.
:: In 2009, Veronique Courjault (pictured) was convicted of murdering three of her babies in France.
:: In 2006, a woman was convicted in Germany of killing eight of her newborns and burying them in flower pots and a fish tank.

On TV a neighbour said the woman was so obese you'd never know is she was pregant or not , not even her husband would know.

Infantcide has being going on for years. First the sacrifical killings of many ancient societies, sadly today. Some cases are due to postnatal depression others are as a probable cause stated in this woman's killing spree, denial of pregnancy.

In November 2008 it was reported that in Agibu and Amosa villages of Gimi region of Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea where tribal fighting in the region of Gimi has been going on since 1986 (many of the clashes arising over claims of witch craft and bad dark magicks) women had agreed that if they stopped producing males, allowing only female babies to survive, their tribe's stock of boys would go down and there would be no men in the future to fight. They agreed to have all new-born male babies killed. It is not known how many male babies were killed by being smothered, but it had reportedly happened to all males over a 10 year period and probably was still happening

China has a high number due to the restriction on one child. According to locals the Yangtze River is a favoured dumping ground for the victims of infantcide.

Disgusting and horrifying is the only way I can describe this. This is not an isolated case in France and there have been several cases over the past few years. I cannot even imagine how a person can live with that on their conscience. Some people have found a nce looking name for it. But for me it is still murder and murder of one of the worst kinds.