AN 83-YEAR-OLD woman who killed her completely-disabled son and tried to commit suicide was facing six years in prison, but has reached an agreement with the prosecution to secure her freedom.
María Luisa M. B. had spent 64 years caring for her eldest son – since his birth – as he was deaf-mute, dumb, totally paralysed and severely mentally handicapped, meaning he was bed-ridden and needed 24-hour care for his every need.
He was registered as 100% disabled.
His mother, whose own physical and mental health is failing, was worried her other children – a daughter and a son aged 59 who is also disabled – would have to spend their every waking hour caring for their brother after she died.
She mixed a cocktail of 16 packets of pills including Ibuprofen and Tramadol, among others, in a liquidiser and drank half of it herself, giving the remainder to her son, then went to bed.
María Luisa was found by her daughter and rushed to Prince of Asturias Hospital in nearby Alcalá de Henares, where she eventually recovered, but where her 64-year-old son died the day after he was admitted from the brain haemorrhage triggered by the overdose.
Prosecutors were calling for a six-year jail term for the elderly mother, who lives in Torres de la Alameda in the Greater Madrid region, based upon the standard custodial term for premeditated murder, aggravated by the blood relationship with the victim, but mitigated by María Luisa's own mental health problems.
But a plea-bargain has led to the prosecution agreeing to her being electronically tagged for six years and compulsory out-patient psychiatric treatment during that time, meaning she has been able to walk free.
As a result, she did not have to attend the hearing at Madrid Provincial Court (pictured) due at 10.00 today (Friday).
María Luisa was 81 when she performed the 'mercy-killing' and attempted suicide, at the end of November 2015.
