Mum sentenced for hiding stillborn babies' bodies
FacebookA mum who hid the remains of her two stillborn babies inside her home has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Egle Žilinskaitė, 31, hid the bodies of two full-term babies inside her home after she delivered them "alone and without medical support".
The mother-of-five concealed the pregnancies due to a "fundamental distrust of authorities, both in the UK and based on her experiences in Lithuania" where she was born, a judge at Cardiff Crown Court said on Thursday.
Žilinskaitė was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
Her former partner, Žilvinas Ledovskis, was cleared of the same charges last month.
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Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, sentencing, told Žilinskaitė: "You made a deliberate decision not to seek assistance from the authorities because you knew the authorities could and would remove your children if necessary.
"While you have committed serious offences, the deaths of your children were not your fault and you have suffered the loss of two children at birth."
On 26 November 2022, Gwent Police officers were searching the end-of-terrace property in Maes-Y-Felin, Wildmill, Bridgend, as part of an alleged fraud investigation linked to the possible misselling of clothes intended for charity.
They noticed a "foul smell" coming from the upstairs area of the house, the court heard, which was worse in the upstairs of the property.
One officer opened the hatch to the attic and the smell immediately "got worse".
Upon investigating, they discovered the first baby concealed in blankets and bin bags in the house's attic.
Crime scene officers were then called to the house and, in a "shocking and disturbing discovery", found a second body in the airing cupboard.
Medical examination later revealed the children, referred to as Baby A and Baby B in court, were full-term babies and the biological children of Žilinskaitė and her then partner, Žilvinas Ledovskis, who lived with her.
Forensic tests and post mortem examinations revealed both were male and were not identical twins, but were full siblings. Both appeared to have been stillborn at full-term.
Due to the severe decomposition of the remains, no cause of death could be ascertained, the court heard.
A pathologist however found it was "not unreasonable" to conclude both babies died at around the time of birth due to the presence of a placenta and an umbilical cord.
The court heard Žilinskaitė gave birth to the first baby in August 2019 at a separate address, then moved the remains to the house in Bridgend where she delivered a second stillborn child in September 2021.
During the sentencing hearing, defence lawyer Matthew Roberts told the judge Žilinskaitė had been suffering from depression at the time of the events and was "lonely", adding she feared she would be blamed for the stillbirths at the time.
He said: "Her emotions were all over the place, she didn't know what to do.
"She had a difficult relationship with her partner who was an alcoholic and was also emotionally abusive towards her."
Mr Roberts said his client had given birth to both babies while she was alone in the flat and "panicked."
He said she was "vulnerable" and herself a "victim" but had now had some "closure" due to the proceedings and had finally buried the babies properly in May this year.
Zilinskaite pleaded guilty to two counts of concealing the birth of a child and two counts of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body at a previous hearing on 10 April 2024.
At the time, her former partner Ledovskis, now 50, of Phoebe Road in Swansea, pleaded not guilty to the same charges.
He was however found not guilty on all counts in May this year after the prosecution said it would be presenting no evidence against him.