• Genevieve Lhermitte killed her five children.
• At her own request in 2007 and was given a life term in prison.
• In Belgium, euthanasia is legal if a person is suffering “unbearable”.

Sixteen years after killing her five children, a Belgian mother had her five children put to death at her own request.

On February 28, 2007, when their father was abroad, Genevieve Lhermitte murdered her son and four daughters, ages three to fourteen, in the town of Nivelles.

She then made an attempt at suicide but was unsuccessful, thus she ended up phoning for assistance from emergency services.

The 56-year-old was given a life term in prison in 2008 before being transferred to a mental health facility in 2019.

In Belgium, euthanasia is legal if a person is assessed to be experiencing “unbearable” psychological suffering in addition to physical pain that cannot be relieved.

The person must be conscious of their decision and be able to express their wish in a reasoned and consistent manner.

“It is this specific procedure that Mrs.  Lhermitte followed, with the various medical opinions having been collected,” her lawyer said.

Psychologist Emilie Maroit told the media channel that Lhermitte likely chose to die on 28 February in a “symbolic gesture in respect for her children”.

“It may also have been for her to finish what she started, because basically she wanted to end her life when she killed them,” the psychologist said.

Belgium was shaken by the five killings that occurred in 2007 and the trial that followed.

Lhermitte’s attorneys contended that she was mentally ill and shouldn’t be imprisoned during the trial. She was nonetheless given a life term in prison after the jury judged her guilty of premeditated murder.

Lhermitte filed a civil complaint against a former psychiatrist in 2010, requesting up to three million euros (£2,655,840) from him, saying that his “inaction” failed to stop the killings.

Nevertheless, after ten years, she decided to drop the case.

A 10% increase from 2021 to 2022 saw 2,966 persons in Belgium die via euthanasia.

Cancer remained the most common reason, but officials said in nearly three out of four requests the patient exhibited “multiple types of pain, both bodily and psychological”.

In Belgium, children can now be assisted in dying alongside adults if they are terminally ill, in excruciating pain, and have their parents’ permission.

This change was made in 2014.

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