Woman who killed her 5 children ended her life with euthanasia

On February 28, 2007, a woman named Genevieve Lhermitte murdered her 5 children, Yasmine, Nora, Myriam, Mina and Mehdi, ages 3 to 15, while her Moroccan-born husband was not at home. The woman who left a farewell letter to a friend and then attempted suicide survived.

Lhermitte was tried for first degree murder. The woman, who was receiving psychiatric treatment, said during the trial that she killed her children because of problems at home. The court sentenced Lhermitte to life in prison in 2008.

The Belgian woman, whose life was later the subject of a film, was released from prison in 2019 and was sent to a psychiatric center in the south of the country.

Lhermitte requested to die using his right to euthanasia, claiming that he could not “relieve the spiritual pain he suffered” while here. Lhermitte’s life ended at age 56 in a hospital on February 28, 2023, exactly 16 years after she killed her children. (AA)