Nephews stabbed at Christmas: aunt explains suffering from postnatal depression

The woman who stabbed her nephew to death and tried to kill her niece and her infant in Limay, Yvelines, on Christmas night, admitted the facts and explained that she was suffering from post-natal depression, explained on Saturday the floor of Versailles.

This 31-year-old woman, from Mantes-La-Jolie, a town bordering Limay, must be brought to justice on Saturday for her indictment. 

"Very severe postpartum depression" 

During her custody, "she explained very precisely the facts, which she recognized, explaining that she had a very serious post-partum depression after the birth of her baby" last November, said the prosecution.

"That evening, she explains having completely lost her footing", without "any trigger" identified during the Christmas dinner.

"She is someone described by those close to her as being particularly gentle and attentive with children," he added, adding that she used to spoil her nephew and niece.

She has been working for ten years in a nursery school.

"Army of a knife and a cutter"

Since giving birth, she said "a very great fatigue to those close to her".

Thursday evening, for Christmas, she had dinner with her sister and her brothers, as well as her husband, at her parents' place, in a public housing building near the station of the small town of Limay, in the western suburbs of Paris.

Three children were also present: her 10-year-old nephew, her 4-year-old niece and her baby.

At the end of dinner, her husband returns home alone.

"Married for more than a year, they had a life project: a child, a new home ...", noted the prosecution.

One of his brothers also returns, leaving his two children to sleep there.

But that night, the woman took her nephew and niece to the playground behind the building, "armed with a knife and a cutter", repeatedly injuring them.

Some wounds attest to "great violence, a form of persistence".

Then she went to look for her infant in the apartment, which she "pricked with the point of a knife".

"She did not completely commit her irreparable gesture towards him, but it was her intention," according to the prosecution, which is investigating intentional homicide on a minor under 15 and double attempted homicide on minors.

The alert was given around 3:15 am by neighbors and then by the grandmother.

Despite the intervention of the emergency services, the boy died on the spot.

His autopsy will take place on Monday.

The girl, seriously injured, is still in the hospital.

Its vital prognosis is not engaged.

The infant was also taken care of.