Baby killing mum could get four months

A Finnish mother who killed her three-month-old baby may only have to serve four months in prison if the case is ruled to be infanticide.

The death of the girl was first considered to be manslaughter after the woman admitted the killing to police at the scene in Helsinki.

But if it can be demonstrated that she was suffering from fatigue or postnatal depression at the time, the rare criminal designation of infanticide could be applicable. There have only been a few such rulings in the past decade in Finland, but mothers receive markedly lower sentences, with the minimum terms being four months and the maximum four years.

“Postnatal depression cannot be used as an argument based on a mere plea. It has to be diagnosed medically,” explained Matti Tolvanen, Professor of Criminal and Procedural Law at the University of Eastern Finland, in a report by Helsingin Sanomat.

He added that there is no specific time-frame for how long after birth postnatal depression can reside. “I would estimate from a couple of weeks to a couple of months,” Tolvanen said. “No generally applicable rule can be stated, because such cases are few and far between.”

Tovanen added that, in the last 17 years, he only remembers one infanticide ruling in Finland. “In that case it was viewed that the mother clearly suffered from diminished responsibility. In the end she was found to have been completely non compos mentis during the incident,” he told HS.