German mother jailed for killing eight babies

A German woman was today convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing eight of her newborn babies.

Sabine Hilschinz, 40, was given the maximum sentence after the court in Frankfurt an der Oder found her guilty of eight counts of manslaughter. She also was suspected in the death of a ninth child in 1988, but the statue of limitations does not allow for that case to be tried.

Hilschinz was arrested after the remains of the infants were discovered last July, buried in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents’ home near the German-Polish border.

She declined to testify at her trial, which opened in April, but previously told investigators that she was drunk when she went into labour and could not remember the births.

Hilschinz also told investigators that she and her then-husband already had three children, and the husband did not want more. She maintained she always hoped he would notice the pregnancies.

Before Hilschinz’s trial began, the court in Frankfurt an der Oder reduced the charges from murder on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence she intended to hide her alleged crimes.

Prosecutors argued the evidence heard at the trial contradicted that. They called for her to be convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Her defence team argued she should be convicted of only one count of manslaughter and sentenced to three and a half years, maintaining it could not be established conclusively that seven of the babies were born alive.