THE US
AN Ohio woman said to be suffering from an illness that drives people to harm others in order to attract attention has been convicted of killing three of her four babies.
Ramona Douglas (31) was found guilty by a judge on Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court after she pleaded no contest to aggravated murder charges in the 1988, 1991 and 1994 deaths.
Douglas, who could face 60 years to life in prison, will be sentenced next March.
It was the first time Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy was admissible as a motive in a murder case in Ohio, an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Ms Melody White, said.
"The label is applied to parents who either cause or fabricate some type of illness in their children to get attention or sympathy from the medical community for themselves. They use their kids to fulfil their own need for attention," she said.
Ms White said all three babies died of suffocation - Elizabeth in 1988 at seven weeks, Cameron in 1991 at six weeks and Shannon in 1994 at nine weeks. Douglas denied in court that she killed her children and, in televised comments, warned mothers to have evidence to protect themselves if their children get sick and die.
Ms White said Douglas had claimed two children died of illness and the other was killed by an unknown intruder. Her attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.
A fourth child, Josiah, has been in foster care since his birth in January, when the prosecution's case against Douglas was already under way, Ms White said.