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Prefaut Sophie Biography

French autistic child. There was practically no structure in France for autistic children and the doctors are unable to care for them. In cases of severe crisis the children are confined in psychiatric wards. Sophies mother, Jeanne-Marie had promised to her daughter that this would never happen to her. On the morning of 8/07/1994, Jeanne-Marie gave a large number of sedatives to Sophie and took her for a drive. While in the family car, Jeanne-Marie covered Sophie’s mouth with one hand and pinched her nose with the other, ending once and for all this family’s ordeal. Later in the morning Jeanne-Marie surrendered to police. On 2/21/1996, the court of Hérault found Jeanne-Marie Prefaut guilty "of the murder of a vulnerable person" and sentenced her to five-year suspended sentence. It was not an acquittal, but close, recognizing the act as a mercy-killing. Read less