In Sarthe, blood analysis reveals a blood alcohol level of 7.81g in a 6-month-old baby: his mother poisoned him

January 2023. The child, barely six months old, is hospitalized in Le Mans (Sarthe) for a series of unexplained illnesses. Born prematurely in July 2022, he has suffered from serious heart and respiratory problems since his birtheven having to undergo surgery at just three months old.

As his discomfort became daily, on February 3, a blood test revealed the unthinkable: a blood alcohol level of 7.81 ga rate never seen in an infant.

This shocking discovery led to his transfer to the Angers University Hospital (Maine-et-Loire), where the baby, already extremely weakened, was taken care of. An investigation quickly begins to understand how this fragile child could have been exposed to such a quantity of alcohol.

The mother at the heart of the suspicions of this poisoning

All eyes turn to the mother. Always present during discomfort, his behavior calls out to caregivers : she manipulates the child's nasogastric tube despite the prohibitions, becomes strangely worried when her son seems to be getting better and films his resuscitations.

Faced with investigators, she ends up admitting to having administered medical alcoholtaken on a nursing trolley, via her baby's probe. His goal? “Let him be better cared for,” she said, “so he doesn’t come home in this condition.”

A childhood marked by violence

The trial shed light on the accused's painful past. The fifth of ten siblings, she grew up in a violent and unstable environmentmarked by physical and sexual abuse. Placed from childhood, she has had many homes and stays in psychiatry.

Diagnosed with mild intellectual disability and Munchhausen syndrome by delegation, she was seeking, according to experts, to attract medical attention through her sick child.

A psychologist described a woman who was “emotionally and socially deprived, built on a foundation of violence.” Her baby's illness would have been perceived by her as a personal failureshattering the image of the “ideal mother” she aspired to become.

Irreversible after-effects for the child

Today the child is two and a half years old. But theThe after-effects of this poisoning are serious. Nearly half of his stomach had to be removed, and he is fed through a tube he wears at all times.

His development is that of a child of 12 to 18 months, and he suffers from chronic pain linked to his numerous regurgitations.

However, his family assistant, who has been following him since his release from the hospital, speaks with emotion of a child full of tenderness and joy. She highlights his progress, particularly on an emotional level and explains that the child who did not like being touched now accepts it.

8 years of criminal imprisonment

This Friday, January 24, 2025, after two days of debate, the Sarthe criminal court delivered its verdict.

The mother was sentenced to eight years in prisonthe court retaining an alteration of its discernment at the time of the facts. His conviction is accompanied by a definitive withdrawal of his parental authority over his three children, due to “the seriousness of the facts and his dangerousness”.

For the defense, this trial was also that of psychological and social misery. But for the child, the conviction does not erase the after-effects of a story which, according to his doctors, will mark him for life.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.