A 50-year old nurse, Dominique Cottrez who confessed ‘systematically strangling and burying’ eight of her newborn babies because she ‘did not want to use contraception’ is set to face trial in France in 2015.
A France’s Court of Cassation had vehemently paid deaf ears to her claims that the ‘statute of limitations’ for prosecution had expired as the crimes were committed over ten years ago probably between 1987 and 2000.
The court had recently ruled that she must face trial because her hiding the bodies meant it was impossible to know a crime had been committed during the ten-year time limit.
A UK Daily Record report on Friday, November 7, 2014, said the first macabre discoveries were made four years ago when the horrified new owners of a house in the village of Villiers-sur-Tertre, northern France, found human bones in their garden while digging a pond.
It was learnt that they had informed the police who swung into action and discovered the remains of two children which had been there since the Cottrez family moved out in 1991.
The cops eventually trailed Dominique Cottrez and 48-year old husband Pierre-Marie Cottrez in their new apartment which was about half a mile away.
It was learnt that the cops had found the bodies of six more children buried in the garden of their new apartment in black bin liners occupied by the couple who have two surviving daughters, Virginie, 22, and Emeline, 23 who both have a son.
During the initial hearing of the case in court in 2010, public prosecutor Eric Vaillant revealed that Cottrez had managed to hide her pregnancies behind her huge stomach due to her obese nature.
He said, “She managed to hide the fact she was pregnant because she was very overweight.”
“She told investigators that when she became aware she was pregnant she decided she did not want any more children but also did not want to see a doctor for contraception.”
“She has admitted giving birth in secret and then suffocating the babies and disposing of the bodies.”
Although her husband claimed to be unaware of the birth and murder of the eight kids, he still risks trial for hiding a crime.
After the discovery of the incident, Emeline has described her mother as a ‘doting granny’ to her son.
She said, “It’s incomprehensible that our mother could have done this.
“She was a good, loving grandmother, and we were happy to leave our children with her.”
During a hearing of the case this week, Defence lawyer Marie-Helene Carlier said, “My client readily admits the horror of what she has done but believes that legally the time for punishment has passed.”
