A mother, aged 29, was sentenced on Wednesday October 11, 2023 by the Nantes Criminal Court for “psychological violence and fraud”we learn via West France, the day after. Indeed, in 2020, she made her daughter, aged only 6, believe that she had leukemia, before launching a fundraiser. Affected by the child’s “fictitious” illness, many relatives participated in the prize pool, which amounted to 2,815 euros. For the entire school year, the mother cut her daughter’s hair and made her wear a bandana every day. “I’m starting to lose my hair, It’s very complicated for me because I have long hair and I want the same hair as Elsa in Frozen.”, she wrote in description of the prize pool. If the investigators initially suspected the mother of being affected by Münchhausen syndrome by proxy, which consists of inventing or even creating illnesses in others to attract attention to oneself, this was not the case. According to the doctors, the defendant does not suffer from any “trouble” likely to have “impaired his discernment”complete The Parisian.
Ten months in prison with suspended probation
This mother put her daughter through a real ordeal, who was then convinced that she was going to die. In class, the girl regularly complained of headaches and was constantly tired. Faced with this manipulation, the public prosecutor requested only 6 months suspended prison sentence. A duration that it justifies by the fact that the “facts are old” and the mother has “began the beginning of a semblance of psychological follow-up.” The Court sentenced him to 10 months in prison with suspended probation as well as the obligation to receive treatment for two years. In addition, the mother will owe the sum of 251 euros to each of the participants in the prize pool. Concerning the sum of damages that she will have to pay to her daughter, the amount will be pronounced on January 10, 2025, after a medico-legal expertise. During the hearing, the mother assured that she was being followed by a psychologist. “I want to get treatment: it was a complicated period and I had, in quotes, delirium” she had indicated. The father, legally responsible for their child, was not present at the hearing. The interests of their daughter were therefore defended by an ad hoc administrator appointed by the services of the Loire-Atlantique department. A sordid scenario, during which the girl ended up getting really sick, during the summer of 2021.