Woman who sawed off own hand found guilty of fraud
Slovenian woman sentenced to two years in prison for insurance scam
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Your support makes all the difference.A Slovenian woman has been found guilty of deliberately sawing off her own hand to make a fraudulent insurance claim.
A court in Ljubljana found Julija Adlesic, 22, had taken out five insurance policies before having her left hand severed above the wrist with a circular saw.
She stood to collect more than €1m (£926,000), about half paid immediately and the rest in monthly instalments.
She was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday.
The district court said Adlesic had agreed with her boyfriend to have her hand sawed off at their home in early 2019.
Her boyfriend and his father took her to hospital after the incident, saying she had injured herself while sawing branches.
Authorities said they left the severed hand behind rather than bringing it to the hospital to ensure the disability was permanent, but police recovered it and it was reattached.
Her boyfriend received three years in prison, while his father was given a one-year suspended sentence.
During the trial, Adlesic denied deliberately cutting off her hand.
“No one wants to be crippled,” she told the court. “My youth has been destroyed. I lost my hand at the age of 20. Only I know how it happened.”
However, prosecutors said that days before the incident, Adlesic’s partner searched online for information about how artificial hands work.
They claimed this was proof that the hand was severed intentionally.
“We believe the sentences are fair and appropriate, and will serve their purpose,” judge Marjeta Dvornik said.
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