A 28-year-old woman from Lauffen am Neckar in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, Katarina Jovanovic, has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for manslaughter after dropping her newborn daughter out of a window.
The verdict was delivered by the Heilbronn District Court on Wednesday, July 3.
The court was informed that Jovanovic secretly gave birth at home on September 12, ten months prior, and then dropped her newborn daughter from her apartment window, a fall of almost 12 feet, onto the tarmac below.
Passersby, horrified by the sight of the minutes-old infant’s body with a shattered skull beneath Jovanovic’s balcony, immediately alerted the authorities.
During the trial, which began in April, Jovanovic confessed to the act but was unable to articulate her reasoning to the court, as reported by ASB Zeitung.
She claimed she was unaware of her pregnancy, but the prosecution argued that she intentionally hid her pregnancy from her colleagues and neighbours, accusing her of murder.
Prosecutors contended that Jovanovic feared motherhood would derail her career as an executive in Porsche’s legal department.
Public prosecutor Mareike Hafendoerfer stated, “The accused was not prepared to put her life plans, especially her professional advancement, on hold for a child. That was her decision when the baby was born, and as a result, the criteria for a murder conviction are fulfilled.”
Jovanovic’s defense team argued for a manslaughter conviction, asserting that she accidentally dropped the baby after giving birth alone, without knowing she was pregnant.
Defense attorney Malte Hoech explained, “It is a drama that affects me personally. My client did not even know that she was pregnant. When she suddenly held the bloody baby in her hands, she was in an exceptional psychological situation. It was an accident, she dropped the baby. How the child ended up over the windowsill remains to be determined.”
Ultimately, the court accepted the manslaughter charge but imposed a sentence of seven and a half years, exceeding the three years requested by the defense. J
ovanovic’s legal team has announced plans to appeal the decision.
Neighbors expressed their shock, noting that they had no idea Jovanovic was expecting.
One neighbour remarked, “Nobody noticed that the woman was pregnant. Recently she had changed and was no longer talking to us. We thought she was stressed at work.”
