A Belgian woman who murdered her five children in 2007 has been euthanized at her own request, 16 years after the horrific crime.
Genevieve Lhermitte, 56, had been sentenced to life in prison after killing all five of her children, having slit their throats with a kitchen knife she had stolen from a local grocery store while her husband Bouchaib Moqadem was visiting family in Morocco.
She had attempted to take her own life after killing her children, but survived and was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Lhermitte had been deemed to have serious mental issues, regularly seeing a psychiatrist and claiming it was troubles at home that had driven her to brutally kill her own children.
Lhermitte was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008 for the killing of Yasmine, 14, Nora, 12, Myriam, 10, Mina, seven, and three-year-old Mehdi, before being moved to a psychiatric hospital in 2019.
She requested to be euthanized on the basis of "unbearable mental suffering", and her life was ended on February 28, 2023, exactly 16 years to the day of her children's death.
Belgian law allows for people to choose euthanasia on the basis of psychological as well as physical suffering if there is no hope for it to improve.
The person must be conscious of their decision and able to express their wish to be euthanized in a reasonable and consistent manner for it to be considered.
Lhermitte's lawyer said, via the BBC: "It is this specific procedure that Mrs Lhermitte followed, with the various medical opinions having been collected."
Psychologist Emilie Maroit added to the RTL-TVI channel that Lhermitte probably chose the significant date of 28 February for her to die as a "symbolic gesture in respect for her children," adding: "It may also have been for her to finish what she started, because basically she wanted to end her life when she killed them."
In 2022, 2,966 people died by euthanasia in Belgium, which was an increase of 10 percent on the year before, with the majority of those being patients suffering with terminal cancer.
Officials added that in almost three out of four cases, the patients experienced "several types of suffering, both physical and psychological," which influenced their decision.
Children as well as adults have been able to request euthanasia in Belgium since 2014, if they are terminally ill and experiencing great pain, as long as they have consent from their parents.
The horrific multiple filicides rocked Belgium, with a jury funding Lhermitte guilty of premeditated murder despite her legal team arguing that she was mentally disturbed and should not be sent to prison.
Lhermitte had also filed a civil lawsuit in 2010 for €3 million ($3.2 million) against her former psychiatrist, claiming that his "inaction" had failed to prevent the murder of her children, but ended up abandoning the case after 10 years.
Featured image credit: REUTERS / Alamy
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