A lawyer has been jailed for seven and a half years after she threw her newborn daughter out of a window because she was worried the infant would ruin her career as an executive at Porsche.
The Heilbronn District Court in German heard how Katarina Jovanovic, from Lauffen am Neckar, Baden-Wuerttemberg State, gave birth on September 12, 2023 after not telling anyone that she was pregnant.
UK publication, Mail Online, said she dropped her minutes-old daughter from her flat. The infant landed on the windowsill and was found by a passer-by.
The publication reported that she admitted to the crime at the beginning of the trial in April, but failed to explain exactly what happened.
She also claimed she had not realised she was pregnant. However, the prosecution argued that she knew and accused her of murder, alleging she deliberately concealed her pregnancy from colleagues and neighbours.
The online publication said prosecutors argued that Jovanovic thought being a mother would spoil her career as an executive in Porsche's legal department.
‘'The accused was not prepared to put her life plans, especially her professional advancement, on hold for a child.That was her decision when the baby was born, and as a result, the criteria for a murder conviction are fulfilled,’’ prosecutor Mareike Hafendoerfer was quoted as saying.
Mail Online reported that Jovanovic's lawyer, Malte Hoech, claimed she accidentally dropped the baby from her hands after giving birth alone at home without realising she was pregnant. He argued she should be charged with manslaughter instead of murder.
'It’s a drama that affects me personally. My client did not even know that she was pregnant. When she suddenly held the bloody baby in her hands, she was in an exceptional psychological situation. It was an accident, she dropped the baby. How the child ended up over the windowsill remains to be determined,’’ Hoech was quoted as saying.
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