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Neighbours voice sympathy for 85-year-old woman who killed disabled daughter

An 85-year-old woman has been spared punishment for the murder of her mentally disabled daughter after a court heard she acted out of panic.

Ronnie J. slit the throat of her 47-year-old daughter Dominique to stop her being taken into the care system, where she had suffered abuse as a child.

Neighbours were mostly sympathetic for J.’s plight. One woman told TV station AT5: “She doesn’t belong in jail. What she did wasn’t right, but she should spend her last years at home.”

The court in Amsterdam found her guilty of murder but imposed no sanction at the request of the public prosecutor.

J. was judged to have diminished responsibility for the crime because she was suffering from early onset dementia and had acted out of panic.

The court was told that Dominique had been sexually abused in a care home as a child. For the last 35 years she had been in the sole care of her mother.

Dominique was incontinent and incapable of eating independently, but her mother declined offers of professional help.

The final straw came when J. received a letter about the family’s finances, which she interpreted as a demand to put her daughter into care.

She tried but failed to take her own life at the same time as she killed her daughter and was found seriously wounded by another member of the family.

J., who was not present at the verdict, was found guilty because judges decided the death of her daughter was a premeditated act.

But they also took into account the defendant’s advanced age, medical condition and the fact that there was no risk of her offending again.

The identity of defendants in criminal cases is protected under Dutch law.

Source: Het Parool: Geen straf voor 85-jarige moeder voor moord op gehandicapte dochter

Photo by Branko Collin/ 24oranges.nl