Starving son forced to eat excrement; his mother showed no remorse in court and laughed as judge handed down the sentence
A mother laughed and clapped as she was sentenced to prison for letting her one-year-old son starve to death while she “had fun” with her lover. 23-year-old Vladislava left her 1-year-old son Danil and 2-year-old daughter Anna without food and water for 11 days in the house of horrors. The children were so hungry that they ate wallpaper, plasterboard and even their own excrement.
Vladislava was sentenced to eight years in prison for Danil’s death, and the sentence has sparked outrage among critics who say it was too lenient. Anna miraculously survived by drinking water from a vase, but was suffering from acute malnutrition when she was rescued from the apartment. Vladislava was imprisoned for deliberately starving her infants and for murder. Prosecutors said Danil died on December 3 and his sister was alone with his body for three days. She intended to post pictures on social media in an appeal, claiming one or both of them had a life-threatening tumor in a sick attempt to pocket money for herself, the court heard. The mother “tortured her children for profit,” news outlets reported.
Judge Galina called her “cynical and heartless,” but the sentence she imposed has sparked an outcry. An appeal is expected, with demands for a life sentence. The prosecutor’s office said: “In connection with this, the prosecutor’s office is preparing an appeal to the Court of Appeal demanding a review of the verdict.” When the mother heard the sentence, she was seen laughing and clapping her hands. The toddlers could not leave their “nursery from hell” because a towel was wedged in the doorway to stop them from getting to the kitchen. Their teeth marks were found on the walls where they tried to eat wallpaper. They desperately tore linoleum off the floor, trying to open a gap under the door. There was food in the fridge, but the children couldn’t get to it. Psychiatrists ruled the mother was mentally fit to face trial. The mother spent the 11 days she was absent—two days longer than earlier reported—with her new lover and their baby daughter.
A police source said she was with her new lover, Anthony. “She was having fun with him while her children were being tortured to death,” said the source. Mr. Anthony said that Vladislava had told him that the children were with their grandmother while she was with him. The mother’s landlord Mikhail said the sentence was shockingly lenient after taking into account her time indention and remission. “The murderer who doomed such a little one to death has got just three years in jail,” he said. His wife Yulia said: “I am lost, I am upset, and I just do not know how this could happen.”
A spokeswoman for the Prosecutor’s Office, said: “As a mother of two children, I am simply shocked.” She added: “We will immediately appeal against the sentence and fight for punishing Vladislava in the strictest way.” The mother’s old social media was full of pictures of her children from before the incident, and messages of love to them. Her daughter, Anna, was put up for adoption following her younger brother’s death. However, after her release from prison, Vladislava will be allowed to raise her younger daughter Sofia.