Rolande Leymarie (31) and her husband, Jean-Pierre (44), were arrested under suspicion of having suffocated at the birth of seven of their children, from 1976 to 1983, on their farm in Saint-Bonnet-la-Rivière, a French village of 334 inhabitants in Corrèze. On November 12 and 13, 1984, they were found guilty. At the trial, jurors were shown the pocketknife with which Jean-Pierre cut each of the seven newborn’s umbilical cord.
During the trial, Rolande repeated "I did not know, I did not know", asserting that she never knew, during any of seven pregnancies, that she was with child.
In the last months of her pregnancies, Rolande would tighten her stomach as much as possible to deflect suspicion. Villagers recall that Rolande would when passing them on the street would bend down. The Leymarie’s next-door neighbor testified how the husband would express hostility, thereby keeping distance and that she would goo unseen for long periods from time to time over the years.
[SOURCE of facts: D. Schneidermann, “Pitoyables infanticides,” Le Monde (Paris, France), Nov. 15, 1984]
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