A 37-year-old woman was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday (13.12.2024) in France for the murder of her children aged 9 months and 2.5 years in 2022.
The shocking murder took place on February 15, 2022 in France, when Ingrid Jesus Van Der Kelen picked up her children from daycare and then drowned them.
Before this she had tried to kill her husband with an ax because he announced that he intended to leave her and take the children from her after she had become dangerous due to problems alcoholism.
A few hours after the brutal murder, the 37-year-old was arrested while driving.
Ingrid, a former researcher with a PhD in natural sciences, was facing a life sentence. The Court of Appeal of Nancy found her guilty of murdering her children and assaulting her husband.
Upon hearing the decision, she did not react at all.
During her trial Van Der Kelen repeated that she wanted to kill himselfthat she still does not understand how and why she drowned her children.
Since the day she was remanded in custody, her psychological state is quite fragile and she has attempted suicide 5 times.
“I just want to say that I loved my children (…) I don’t know why he did it, I don’t understand and I never will. I want to once again apologize to the family of my children,” he said before jurors retired.
The latter showed more leniency than the attorney general, who had asked for a life sentence, and so she was given 30 years with 15 of them without parole.