Prosecutors recommend four years in prison against woman who killed her baby

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has recommended a four-year jail sentence against Margot H. A 41-year-old from Doetinchem for killing the baby Sem Vijverberg in January 2006. Her criminal case will be heard at the court in Arnhem on Wednesday.

The lifeless body of the baby was found near the end of January 2006 in a frozen lake in Doetinchem. An investigation proved that the boy was killed with violence and left behind. He was given the name Sem by one of the children who had found the baby. The last name Vijverberg is a nod to the stadium of the local professional football club De Graafschap.

H. was arrested in September 2022 after a tip that came as a result of extensive media attention for the cold case. DNA research subsequently showed that H. was the boy’s mother.

During the hearing, H. said that she does not remember anything of the pregnancy or the birth in the past. “Horrible,” she said about this. “I am looking for answers. I keep realizing that I am not getting the answer,” the suspect said while crying. “My hope for an answer keeps lessening. I hope that I can live with that, but I’m not sure if I can.”

The OM believes it is proven that the biological mother purposely took the baby’s life in January 2006 and placed the body in the lake. There are no alternative scenarios, the prosecutor said.

There is no evidence for a murder charge as the OM cannot prove that H. had a preconceived plan to kill her child. The Public Prosecution Service assumes that the suspect was not aware of her pregnancy until she gave birth and was suddenly confronted with a child.

H. was arrested in September 2022 and was in pre-trial detention for two weeks. During the court case, it became clear that she had already been sent a letter on August 5, 2021, from the police requesting that she contact them in connection with the investigation.

It was also announced that she had canceled ten appointments with the police between August 2021 and the end of February 2022 for reasons that were not always valid. She indicated that she was in quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus, even though she taught a class at school the same day.

She did not answer any of the critical questions asked by the court about this. The letter was found in a toiletry bag in the basement during a house search. “I did not hide it there intentionally,” she said.