A mother sentenced to 18 years in prison for having left her 19-month-old daughter to die, scalded to death by her companion, tried to explain on Tuesday March 22 on appeal the deep distress in which she was at the time of the tragedy.
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"
I couldn't take it anymore
," said Ana-Maria Barbosa, 37, on appeal until Friday at the assizes of Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais).
"
I saw things, but I was only thinking of myself
", recognizes this discreet woman with her hair wisely pulled back.
“
I failed to protect my children.
»
Despite significant social support from this dysfunctional family, little Mélinda died on May 18, 2016 around 2:30 p.m., in Neuf-Mesnil (North), after being sprayed the night before with hot water by her beau. -dad.
She had been smeared with moisturizer and put to bed, without anyone calling for help despite her screams and vomiting, and the Samu had only been alerted the next day at noon.
Mélinda was born less than a year after the death of her eldest, killed by someone close to the family.
Ana-Maria Barbosa, herself a battered child, has since been given a three-month suspended prison sentence for mistreatment of this other child who died at 21 months.
Mélinda came into the world when her parents, separated,
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His mother soon after met a new companion, Jason Odin, and moved in with him with a man he calls his "
uncle
", convicted in the past of pedophile acts and whom Jason Odin accuses of having raped him.
The two men were sentenced on October 12 by the Douai Court of Appeal and did not appeal.
Jason Odin is serving a 25-year prison sentence for acts of barbarism and his host had been sentenced to four years for not having assisted the child who died overnight.
