Two-year sentence for mother in children's fire deaths

The court has sentenced a 29-year-old drug-addicted mother for the deaths of two children in a fire caused by their childish mischief. The resident of Ussuriysk was also found guilty of inflicting serious harm to the health of a third child.

The tragedy occurred on October 31 in an apartment on Polushkina Street in Ussuriysk. The mother, while in a state of drug intoxication, left three young children unsupervised. As the investigation established, the children were playing with a lighter and accidentally set a sofa on fire, leading to the blaze.

Two children — a six-month-old and a two-year-old — died. A three-year-old child suffered serious harm to health. He was hospitalized with toxic encephalopathy, but the child miraculously survived and did not suffer irreversible consequences to the nervous system. Later, the boy was discharged and placed in a foster family.

During the investigation of the criminal case, it was found that the mother systematically led an asocial lifestyle. Previously, she had already been deprived of parental rights regarding her older 10-year-old child, who lives separately. The prosecutor«s office noted that the family was in a socially dangerous situation and should have been registered with prevention authorities.

The press service of the regional prosecutor«s office reported that the woman was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months of imprisonment to be served in a penal colony. The sentence has not yet entered into legal force.

Earlier, the department reported that for causing death by negligence to two or more persons (Part 3 of Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and negligence (Part 1 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the woman faced up to four years of imprisonment. Whether the prosecutor«s office will appeal the sentence is unknown.