Daughter sentenced to 4.5 years jail for killing mother with insulin overdose

A woman from Sittard, aged 56, has been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for the murder of her 78-year-old mother, after deliberately administering a lethal dose of insulin in 2023. The court in Maastricht handed down a higher sentence than the prosecution had sought, which had recommended three years in prison with most of it conditionally suspended.

The court said the prosecution’s recommendation was too low, arguing it would not have a strong enough deterrent effect. It described the sentence for murder as “lenient,” given the “exceptional circumstances” of the case. The judges also took into account that the defendant had diminished responsibility and that the proceedings had taken a long time.

S. told the court she administered a high dose of insulin to her mother after the woman asked her to do so, saying she no longer wanted to live. However, the court ruled that it could not be proven that the mother had a “serious, well-considered and enduring wish to die.”

S. also injected herself with a high dose of insulin, but survived. She had lived with her parents all her life and acted as their informal caregiver. After her father died in 2020, she continued living with her mother. When it was decided in February 2023 that her mother would move into a care home, S. gave her a fatal dose of insulin the night before the planned relocation.

S. said she feared she would “fall into a black hole” after her mother moved into a care home. The woman died in early March 2023. Her lawyer argued that S. acted out of “compassion.”