Mother sentenced to 6 years in prison for allowing newborn baby to drown

A 32-year-old woman was sentenced to six years in prison for purposely killing her newborn baby in an asylum seekers center in Nijmegen. According to the court in Arnhem, Hamdi A. intentionally let go of her daughter in a bath a day after she had given birth in October 2023. The punishment aligns with the Public Prosecution Service (OM) recommendation.

Maternity nurses who came by on October 27 saw the baby unattended with its face underwater. They took the child out of the bath with water from the baby girl's nose, mouth, and ears. The child was also gasping for air.

The mother would not accept any help from the maternity nurses and did nothing to help her daughter. When A. was doing housekeeping a few hours later, the baby had stopped moving, and the eyes would not open.

Emergency services arrived, but the baby was already blue and felt cold. According to investigators, the cause of death was delayed drowning, which results in someone dying later. Hypothermia could have also played a role.

The mother denies having done anything wrong. Her motive is still unclear. The woman had given birth on three occasions before this. According to the OM, this child was unwanted. The suspect had asked for an abortion, but it was too late for that at the time.

No psychological illnesses were found when examining the woman. The court did take specific circumstances into account. A. has fled from Somalia, cannot speak Dutch, and is illiterate. She will be in isolation in prison because of this.

"This makes detention particularly difficult for her, heavier than for an average detainee," the court said. "She has to live with the loss of her daughter and the fact that she is responsible for her death."