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Life in jail for mother who left girls to die
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A MOTHER whose daughters were found starved to death as she had left them at home alone was sentenced to life in prison after she was found guilty of intentional homicide at Nanjing City Intermediate People’s Court yesterday.
Prosecutors said Le Yan, 22, had left them a little food and then locked her daughters at home for nearly two months between April and June. The toddlers, aged one and two, were found dead by a policeman who called at Le’s home in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, on June 21.
Post-mortem examinations indicated that the girls hadn’t suffered from food poisoning or physical injuries and it was likely they had died of dehydration and starvation.
The court heard that Le called police on June 20 to ask for help with living expenses. When a policeman called at her home the next day, there was no answer. He called a locksmith to gain entry to the apartment and found the girls’ decomposing bodies inside.
Prosecutors said Le had covered the window latches in the apartment in clothing and locked the door, leaving the girls no way to get out and call for help.
Later that day, Le was found in a burger restaurant. The court heard she had spent all her money on drugs and food and hadn’t been home for nearly two months.
Le told the court she had left a large bag of cakes, snacks and biscuits and a pot of water in the apartment, which she thought was enough to feed the children. She said she locked the children in the apartment when she left home on May 6 so that they would be safe.
When a member of the jury asked if she knew what love for children meant, Le burst into tears and said: “That is to give them the best things.” She added: “I gave my daughters nothing at all.”
Le, who is three months pregnant, could serve part of her sentence out of prison while she is breastfeeding.
But she told the court that she would like to have someone adopt the baby or for the child to be sent to a government-backed foster agency while she served her sentence.
None of Le’s relatives was in court yesterday. According to media reports, Le’s mother was an unmarried woman who had refused to keep in contact with her.
Le was raised by her grandmother but ran away from home at the age of 16 and later became addicted to drugs.
The court heard that Le’s boyfriend, and father of the younger girl, was also a drug addict.
He was jailed in February for allowing people to take drugs at the couple’s apartment but released last month.
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