Genevieve Lhermitte: Belgian mother euthanised on anniversary of murdering her five children

Her five children were aged between three and 14

Genevieve Lhermitte murdered her son and four daughters, all aged between three to 14, in the town of Nivelles on 28 February 2007 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A Belgian woman who killed her five children has been euthanised 16 years later.

Genevieve Lhermitte murdered her son and four daughters, all aged between three to 14, in the town of Nivelles on 28 February 2007.

The children’s father was away at the time of the murders.

She subsequently attempted to take her own life but failed and resorted to calling emergency services for help.

Lhermitte was sentenced to prison in 2008 and then moved to a psychiatric hospital in 2019.

Belgium’s law for euthanasia allows people to choose to die if they are considered suffering from “unbearable” psychological as well as physical suffering that is beyond healing.

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

The choice to die on 28 February, on the sixteenth anniversary since the murder of her children, may have been a “symbolic gesture in respect for her children,” psychologist Emilie Maroit told the RTL-TVI channel.

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

Belgium legalised euthanasia in 2002, and two years ago amended the rules - after fierce debate - to permit doctor-assisted death for minors.

Belgium is the only country in the world allowing euthanasia on minors of all ages.

Any request for euthanasia must be made by the minor, be studied by a team of doctors and an independent psychiatrist or psychologist and have parental consent.