Those who back assisted dying/euthanasia/assisted suicide – and no doubt Prue Leith on her nationwide tour will be returning to her differences on this one with her MP son, Danny Kruger – have rarely suggested that it might usefully serve as a backdoor return to capital punishment. This, however, seems now to be the case in Belgium.
Genevieve Lhermitte who murdered her five children – a son and four daughters – in 2007 has been killed by doctors at her own request. It was the conclusion to the tragedy that she originally intended. She had tried to take her own life after the murders, unsuccessfully, and was first convicted for life imprisonment in 2008 and later consigned to a psychiatric hospital in 2019.
No doubt the life of this contemporary Medea was a living hell with the image of her children constantly before her. If ever a crime carried its own punishment, it’s this.
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