A Finnish mother was sentenced to life in prison for killing her five babies between 2005 and 2013.
A district court in Oulu, Finland, found the 36-year-old woman guilty of five counts of murder, reported STT. In addition, the court found her guilty of grave breaches of the peace.
The court ruling on Monday said that the woman, identified as Kaisa Emilia Vornanen-Karaduman by Finnish media, gave birth with the intention of killing the babies. She killed her children in a premeditated, cruel and brutal manner, reported YLE Finland.
"Taking into account the almost identical five repeated acts, the intentions were clear," said the court, according to STT.
The woman's attorney argued that she suffered from a mental disorder, but the ruling said her actions—killing the infants—were conscious and deliberate.
"The homicides took place by leaving the newborns without care and warmth.... Clearly this measure... caused particular agony to the babies," said the court in its judgement, according to AFP.
The woman, however, denied that her actions were deliberate, and claimed she thought that all five of the babies were stillborn.
The mother abandoned the babies after giving birth, and kept their dead bodies in a freezer in her basement. The five infants, three girls and two boys, lived only three to four days after they were born, according to HBL Finland.
She also carried the dead bodies of the children when she moved to new apartments. She kept her pregnancies from outsiders, and gave birth at home, which is rare in Finland.
The woman's lawyer, not satisfied with the ruling, said her client plans to appeal the judgment, reported Kaleva Finland.
