German woman accused of killing 9 babies physically fit for trial

A German woman accused of killing nine of her newborn babies is mentally fit to face criminal charges, a psychiatrist said at her trial Tuesday. Sabine Hilschinz, 40, went on trial last month. She could be jailed for up to 15 years if convicted on eight charges of manslaughter; the death of a ninth child is covered by the statute of limitations.

Photo: German woman accused of killing 9 babies physically fit for trial

Court-appointed psychiatrist Matthias Lammel told the court Tuesday that he could find no evidence of mental illness. "We also cannot speak of a personality disorder," he added. Hilschinz has told investigators that, in most of the cases, she was drunk when she went into labor and could not remember the births. Police arrested her after discovering the remains of the nine infants last July buried in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents' home in a village near the Polish border.

Prosecutors have said DNA tests prove that the children, who are believed to have died between 1988 and 1998, each of them shortly after their birth, were those of Hilschinz and her former husband, reports the AP.

N.U.