Mother sentenced to life in prison for starving and abusing 13-year-old daughter to death

A French mother who put her 13-year-old daughter through years of indescribable suffering before allowing her to die of starvation has been given a life sentence in prison.

54-year-old Sandrine Pissarra was found guilty on Friday by a Montpellier court of committing acts of “torture and cruelty” against her daughter, Amandine, who passed away from a heart attack in 2020.

Amandine, who weighed only 28 kilograms (62 pounds) when she died, had experienced a long period of dreadful mistreatment, which involved physical abuse, malnourishment, and confinement in a dark, storage room for extended periods.

She had lost several teeth, her hair had been ripped out, and she suffered from severe muscle loss and septicaemia, a medical report revealed.

Pissarra, described by prosecutors as a “domestic tyrant” and “executioner,” must serve at least 20 years before being eligible for parole.

Her ex-partner, Jean-Michel Cros, 49, was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the abuse.

He was convicted of depriving Amandine of care, a crime the court branded “cowardly collaboration.”

Unlike Pissarra, Cros is ineligible for parole.

“I want to apologize to my children, that’s all,” Pissarra said in a final statement.

Meanwhile, Cros said: “I have nothing to add.”

HOUSE OF HORRORS

Prosecutor Jean-Marie Beney laid bare the chilling extent of Amandine’s suffering.

He described how she was beaten with brooms, punched, kicked and subjected to relentless verbal and physical abuse from a very young age.

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