Mother Fatally Stabs Newborn 22 Times Because 'She Could Not Afford Him'

A mother of three has been sentenced to prison in Ukraine after she confessed to murdering her newborn son because "she could not afford him."

Anastasia Skorychenko, 30, has been accused of stabbing her newborn son 22 times before dumping his body in a trash bin. She reportedly hid her pregnancy from family members and delivered the baby on the balcony of her apartment.

Skorychenko experienced labor pain at night while her mother and her two daughters, aged 7 and 4, were sleeping. She delivered the baby in a plastic bin and clipped the umbilical cord using nail scissors, prosecutors told a court in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, last week, reported news outlet Eminetra.co.uk.

The court also heard that the woman pressed her left hand against the baby's face to avoid him from crying and then stabbed him with the scissors she had in her right hand.

"The mother inflicted 22 puncture wounds on her baby's neck, chest, abdomen, and limbs," the prosecutors told the court. The forensic report said the woman had delivered a "healthy full-term" baby who suffered from "injuries of various degrees" shortly before death, reported news outlet Newswep.com

After killing the child, Skorychenko put the mutilated body in a plastic bag. She carried it outside her apartment and dumped it in a trash container. The next morning, a local resident spotted the severed body of the baby and alerted the police.

Skorychenko told the court that the baby was "unwanted" as a third child would worsen the family's financial situation. A medical examination revealed that she did not suffer from postpartum depression or mental illness. She was charged with the planned murder of the child. The court sentenced her to two years in prison.