German mother gets 15 years for deaths of 8 babies

FRANKFURT AN DER ODER, Germany - A German woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison today after a court found her guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of her eight newborn babies, some of whom were buried in flowerpots.

Prosecutors had accused Sabine Hilschinz, a 40-year-old unemployed dental assistant, of secretly giving birth and then systematically murdering her babies over a 10-year period, but the presiding judge found her guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The judge imposed the maximum sentence of 15 years for the eight deaths. The defence wanted a 3-1/2 year jail term.

In what has been described as postwar Germany's worst series of child killings, police discovered the remains of the babies, wrapped in plastic bags and buried in flower pots and buckets, in the eastern German town of Brieskow-Finkenheerd last summer.

Hilschinz remained silent throughout the proceedings and did not testify. When she was first arrested she said she had tried to hide her pregnancies and got drunk when going into labour.

- REUTERS