Bratislava mother drowned two daughters, gets 19 years in prison

A court in Bratislava has sentenced a woman to 19 years in prison for drowning her two daughters in a bathtub last August and then setting fire to the flat in Bratislava’s second district. Rescuers were unable to save the children.

According to the news site pravda.sk, the court found the deaf woman, named Ivana F., guilty of premeditated murder. She is to serve her sentence in a maximum-security prison, and the court also ordered outpatient psychiatric treatment. She was acquitted of the charge of creating a public danger by setting the flat on fire.

The woman confessed to the crime. The court rejected the defence’s motion to reduce the sentence to eight years. The prosecutor, who had demanded 22–23 years in prison, has appealed the verdict.

According to the indictment, Ivana F. lured her daughters into the bathroom and held their heads under water. The cause of death was asphyxiation by drowning.

During the trial, the defendant said she had wanted to die together with her daughters. She suspected the children’s father of abusing the elder girl and was convinced that by killing them she would protect them from him. She also claimed that her husband had physically abused her. He denied all of these allegations.

Source: novinky.cz