Woman facing 12 years in prison and psychiatric treatment for poisoning her son

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded 12 years in prison and mandatory psychiatric treatment at a TBS facility during an appeal on Wednesday against 37-year-old Jolanda M. from Zevenbergen, who allegedly poisoned her 11-year-old son.

According to the prosecutor, the woman kept supplying the child with medicine even though he was not responding well to it, and therefore, it was murder. The court had sentenced her to 10 years in prison last year.

The child passed away in February 2020 after he had been given painkillers, sleeping pills, and antidepressants. All these substances were not prescribed to the boy but to the mother. According to the OM, she also administered them.

The suspect denies this and thinks that her son took the drugs and administered them himself. On the other hand, she does not rule out that she may have accidentally given the boy a morphine suppository. The prosecutor does not believe that because she was "very careful" with her medications.

A camera system in the bedroom shows the medicines being supplied to the boy. M. claims that she did not administer anything but paracetamol. Specialists believe that she suffers from a factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA), a condition where a child is purposely made ill for attention.

According to the OM, even more unnecessary suffering preceded the fatal day. ” For years, she has convinced medical specialists that her son was ill and very needy and had to be in a wheelchair."

The court in Breda had initially ruled that the suspect wanted to make her son sick and took great risks to do so. “She was aware of the effects it would have on the body of an adult, let alone a child that was too small and too light for his age.”

According to the OM, it may have been premeditated, even if the intention was not to kill her son. She is said to have dealt with the poisoning and overdose "calmly and quietly.”