The press called it the “Mystery of the Galfingue forest.”
On October 2003 – bodies of four babies in rubbish bags
in the Galfingue forest by farmer Philippe Gava.
Investigators attempted, without success, to discover the story behind the infants the called BB1,
BB2, BB3 and BB4.
“Because of the
advanced state of decomposition of the bodies, forensic doctors have never been
able to establish, with the exception of "BB1", whether the newborns
were alive at birth. . . . The experts were also unable to determine dates or
establish a chronology.” Thus, the
investigation was closed. This was in 2009. But, as DNA forensics advanced over
the years new tools became available, and in 2016 the case was reopened. A year
later a match was made to DNA collected from an investigation of a dispute between
neighbors, identifying a link between the corpses and a woman named Sylvie
Horning.
On Nov. 28, 2017, Sylvie Horning and her partner of 33 years, Antonio,
were arrested at their home in Petit-Landau, a small village of 800 inhabitants, in the
south of the Haut-Rhin, near the German border.
A fifth corpse was found in the couple’s home, packed away in a freezer. Before
the case came to trial, Antonio – who had said he was completely unaware of
the events – died.
Sylvia was tried at the Colmar Court of Assises on June 18, 2019.
Mme. Horning testified that she had been a victim of child sexual abuse at the
hands of her stepfather. She was quite open in admitting her inability to care
about her children whom she had abandoned and made no effort to avoid paying
the consequences for her actions. She said she did love the three children who
were allowed to live: a son (34) and two daughters (29 and 20), who were
present at the trial. The reason for their survival goes unexplained in news
reports of the trial testimony.
Daughter Marie, 29-years-old, seemed to contradict her mother’s description
of her maternal affections for the living offspring, telling the court:
“This is a woman but it is not a mother, she should never have had a child.”
News reports describe all three has having “renounced” their mother at the
trial.
Describing her treatment of the five dead infants, Sylvie
explained that they “were not babies for
me but beings that my body and spirit did not accept.”
Sylvie told the court she would “accept all the sentences,
even if it is 30 years in prison. . . . If I was told ‘you die tonight’, I
would accept it immediately. . . . I regret having done so much harm to these
babies and my family.”
“In
her testimony Horning confirmed giving birth to the five children in her
bathroom and concealing what was happening from her partner . . . She only told
him she was pregnant with their first two children in the last weeks of her
pregnancy and the youngest just hours before she was born.”
After three -day
trial, Sylvie Horning was sentenced – on June 21, 2019 – to 20 years in prison.
[Robert St. Estephe, Dec. 21, 2019]
***
CHRONOLOGY
1964 – Sylvie Horning born.
1984 – Sylvie and Anthony become partners.
1985 – Antony born, allowed to live.
1990 – Marie born, allowed to live. (testified at trial).
1990 and 2005 – range of 5 births of babies found as corpses
(including the one found later in a freezer).
1999 – Tiffany born, allowed to live.
Oct. 21, 2003 – bodies of four babies in rubbish bags in the Galfingue
forest by farmer Philippe Gava
2009 – the initial investigation was closed.
2016 – Probe reopened to take advantage of advances in DNA
testing.
2017 – investigators made a link between Horning and the babies,
completely by chance, after her DNA was taken in a separate case following a
fight with neighbors.
Nov. 28, 2017 – Sylvie Horning and Antonio arrested at their home in
Petit-Landau.
2018 – Her partner of 34 years, who died in 2018, had said he was
completely unaware of the events.
Jun. 18, 2019 – trial Colmar Court of Assises.
Jun. 21, 2019 – Sylvie Horning (55) sentenced to 20 years jail.
***
SOURCES
[“Mystère Une mère, cinq cadavres,” I’Humanité, 22 Décembre, 2003]
[“Procès de la mère infanticide de Galfingue : ’Dans ma tête, ce n’était
pas des bébés’,” Le Parisien, Jun. 20, 2017]
[“Mystère des bébés morts de Galfingue : la mère mise en examen,” Le
Parisien, Nov. 30, 2017]
[“Bébés morts de Galfingue : l’enfance fracassée de la mère
infanticide,” Le Parisien, Jun. 18, 2019]
[“French mother gets 20 years jail for murdering 5 of her
children, Borneo Post, Jun. 21, 2019]
***
For more cases of this type, see Serial Baby-Killer Moms.
No comments:
Post a Comment