Jolanda M. (35) from Zevenbergen was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the court in Breda on Thursday, because she poisoned her 11-year-old son Mike. On the morning of February 13, 2020, the boy died from a cocktail of heavy drugs that she administered to him. After her prison sentence, Jolanda will be placed under supervision, so that she can no longer come close to children or the elderly who need care.
Jolanda claimed during the hearing that Mike stole those medicines from her and took them at school. These include morphine suppositories, sleeping pills and antidepressants. But that is not true, according to the court. Jolanda has administered her own medicines to her child to make it sick.
Münchausen-by-proxy
Experts have determined that the woman suffers from it Münchausen-by-proxysyndroom. People with this syndrome pretend to others that their child is sick, disabled or injured. This allows them to continue to care for him and to get the attention they are looking for. According to the judge, Jolanda made her son sick for years to get attention. She filmed her son instead of helping him and showed little affection.
Mike didn’t have a normal childhood, but everything was wrong. He had ADHD, couldn’t eat solid food well, and he was still not potty trained. He was also occasionally in a wheelchair and mainly lived on tube feeding.
It became clear during the hearing that the boy needed constant care and was watched all day by the mother and stepfather, even with cameras.
Play soccer
But during the hearing it turned out that, for example, the biological father never had major problems with Mike. He slept and ate fine with him. He also barely needed his wheelchair. The same sounds came from the boy’s school where the boy used to play soccer and another institution.
But the mother disagreed with the judges and investigators. Her son needed that wheelchair and couldn’t actually eat normally. But according to research, that was precisely a characteristic of her disorder: she does not see what she is doing and always disagrees with others. She also continuously goes from caretaker to caretaker.
During the session, the officer outlined how the fatal February 12 and 13 had gone. Cameras recorded everything, both the conversations in the house and the actions in the boy’s bedroom. Jolanda administered heavy medication on several occasions on the afternoon of February 12, as justice saw on the images of the camera in the boy’s bedroom. He was given a morphine suppository twice. Other heavy drugs were administered via tube feeding.
Images show how Mike keeps falling away, then screams again or tells his mother ‘it’s not fun anymore’. His sister also shouts that her brother is not conscious. At one point, the boy also says that he has a bad taste in his mouth. According to experts, this is the result of taking one of the heavy drugs.
Motionless in bed
Later that night, Mike’s heart gives out. When he is found motionless in bed at 5 am, his stepfather tries in vain to resuscitate him.
An ultra-tragic case, said the officer during the hearing. “This mother accuses her son of stealing her medicines. He would have taken them himself, even suppositories. She pretends to be a victim and keeps saying that we don’t know what was going on in her son’s mind.”
According to the judge, the woman has done everything that a mother should not do. “She continued to administer the medication despite his screaming and screaming and falling away.”
The mother should be the one with whom a child is safe. And that was not Mike with Jolanda. Two weeks before his death, Mike was still an energetic boy. His sister was shocked by the death of her big brother and now lives with her father.
Chance of recurrence
During the session, the judiciary demanded a TBS with compulsory treatment. But the court did not agree. Supervision after her prison sentence is sufficient for Jolanda, the court believes. There is a low chance of recurrence and that chance is only there in young children or the elderly who need care. In the opinion of the court, there is sufficient time in such a long process to intervene.
Jolanda, who was allowed to await the verdict at home with an ankle bracelet, was taken to the cell after the hearing. She was allowed to say goodbye to her family in the hallway, but then she was sobbed away by the parquet police.
2023-07-13 08:35:57
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