"I am a monster"

Mother in France starved daughter (13) to death

A courtroom in Montpellier(Bild: APA/AFP)

A mother in France has been sentenced to life imprisonment for starving her 13-year-old daughter to death. A court in Montpellier found the woman guilty of fatal torture.

According to French media reports, the French woman admitted in court that she had locked her child Amandine in a chamber, naked and emaciated, for weeks. The woman's partner was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for failing to provide care.

Defendant: "I am a monster"
Amandine died of heart failure and sepsis in August 2020. At the time of her death, the 1.55-metre tall girl weighed just 28 kilograms. She had lost her teeth and hair, had a black eye and infected wounds on her body. The mother had kept the child in a windowless, locked and video-monitored room. The woman initially denied her guilt. She then admitted in court that she had repeatedly punished and tortured her child. "I am a monster," she said.

A picture of the girl who only lived to the age of 13: 

Girl told 'I'm going to die' before lockdown
School staff had raised the alarm several times with the authorities on suspicion of abuse. In court, a supervisor at the boarding school where Amandine last went told the court that the girl repeatedly stole from the school canteen and never wore short sleeves, even in warm weather, as the newspaper "Le Parisien" reported. According to media reports, a classmate said: "Amandine often cried the day before the weekend because she didn't want to go home."

When the closure of the school was announced in spring 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the supervisor stated in court that the girl broke down. The child kept saying to her: "I'm going to die." During the lockdown, the school then heard nothing more from the girl, after which she did not return to lessons.