On August 23, around 11:00, a 42-year-old mother drowned her two young sons in a quarry pond in the Varas district of Rivne region. It is known that the children were only six and seven years old.
The police found out that the mother and her sons had gone to a local quarry to swim. However, according to the prosecutor’s office, she “decided to take the children’s lives by drowning”.
“It was established that she physically coerced her older son into the water and held him in that position until he stopped resisting. When she came to the shore, she took her younger son by the hand and led him to a wooden platform, under which there was a considerable depth, and pushed him into the water, knowing that he did not know how to swim. At the same time, she stood on the same platform and contemplated the inevitability of drowning,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Soon after, the children’s 37-year-old father ran to the pond. He took out one of his sons with his own hands, but even resuscitation measures could not save the child. As for the second deceased boy, divers pulled his body out of the water.
The police detained the woman and she pleaded guilty. She is in a temporary detention center. The grieving mother was served a notice of suspicion of premeditated murder of her children. The article under which she is charged provides for imprisonment from 10 to 15 years or life imprisonment. The issue of choosing a measure of restraint is being decided.
Additional details of the incident
The Suspilne media outlet reports that the tragedy occurred in the village of Sopachiv. According to the village elder Serhiy Boyko, who took part in the resuscitation of one of the children, the woman was behaving extremely inappropriately.
“She was sitting there, smiling stupidly. It was obvious that she was completely crazy. We asked her: tell us where the other child is. She didn’t say at first. Then she told us that she had left him further away,” says Boyko.
It is noted that the suspect worked as an English teacher at a local lyceum until December 2022. She had been on maternity leave for six years, but resigned after returning to work.
