A former daycare worker in Lyon, France, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for causing the death of an 11-month-old baby by giving her a laxative to drink.
Miriam Zaouen, 30, was found guilty by the Rhône Criminal Court of “torture or barbaric acts leading to the victim’s death, without intent to cause it.”
The jury did not accept the charge of premeditated murder, which prosecutor Baptiste Gaudreau had requested, arguing for a 30-year prison sentence
Zaouen admitted to giving the corrosive liquid to the little girl but denied intending to kill her. This was her defense throughout the trial, during which she initially gave several different accounts before finally describing how she held the baby’s head and poured the expectorant into her mouth because she “could no longer tolerate her crying.”
