Moscow Court Arrests Mother Who Drowned Her 5-Year-Old Son
On Monday, January 26, the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow arrested 46-year-old Aleksandra Shalina for two months, accused of murdering her five-year-old son. The boy«s body, drowned by his mother, was found in a rented apartment on Brateyevskaya Street.
As Shalina explained to law enforcement officers, the reason was her unwillingness to raise and care for the child. According to the woman, she had long contemplated killing the toddler.
«The accused, not wanting to raise her 5-year-old son, placed him in a water-filled bathtub and began strangling him with a robe belt, submerging his head in water. After making sure the child showed no signs of life, she contacted law enforcement and reported the crime,» said the press service of the Moscow City Prosecutor«s Office.
A criminal case was opened against the mother under clause «v» of part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — she now faces up to twenty years in prison.
During the hearing, the prosecutor insisted that the mother be sent to a pre-trial detention center. The woman did not object. She also said that before committing the crime, she worked as a kitchen worker in a shopping center. The mother«s lawyer stated that Aleksandra has two other dependent children, whose fate is undecided. They are currently living temporarily with a neighbor.
«I have one child left. One died. He is an adult,» the mother said, almost crying, during the hearing.
As clarified by a MSK1.RU correspondent from the courtroom, Aleksandra did not want to show her face to journalists, so she covered it with the hood of a black down jacket. Before the judge arrived, she turned away, and then completely huddled in a corner.
After the hearing, Igor Panin — the lawyer for Aleksandra Shalina — said that his client admits guilt.
«Of course, the crime is terrible… What is there to say. But I think there are grounds to doubt her mental competence. She does not perceive what she did. Murder in the sense that we perceive it. She considers herself a devout person. And on this basis, she eased her son»s life so that he would not sin and depart to the other world completely sinless. That is how she explains this whole matter. She sent her child to heaven,« the lawyer said.
According to Panin, the murder of her son was not a ritual. Before committing the crime, the accused went to church, repented, and absolved her sins.
It turned out that this is not the first criminal story involving Aleksandra. Previously, her 15-year-old daughter accused her stepfather of rape. In 2024, Aleksandra contacted the police. According to her, her 55-year-old ex-husband raped her stepdaughter for five years. The girl was only 13 years old at the time. Simultaneously, the woman claimed that she was allegedly beaten with a hammer by her ex-husband«s elder son, Stanislav. Read more in a separate material.
