Woman remanded for 3 days for trying to drown her children in the sea

A young mother from Nazareth, who apparently intended to drown her children and herself in the Mediterranean Sea Tuesday night, was remanded Wednesday by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court for another three days.

She is suspected of attempted murder and suicide.

“There is no doubt that the suspect is in great distress that led her to do what she did,” wrote Judge Orit Kantor of the Haifa Magistrate Court Wednesday.

“This is a serious and shocking incident,” said police spokesman Eddie Kanterovich. After police questioned the woman, she was taken in for psychological testing; she is suspected of having suicidal tendencies.

Kanterovich said the woman said it was her daughter who had wanted to go into the water. “It wasn’t my choice or my desire [to enter the water],” she said.

The woman was spotted carrying her children, ages 7 and 3, fully clothed some 50 meters into the water off a Haifa beach around 9:30 on Tuesday night. Security patrolmen waded out to the woman, who refused to communicate with them, and then pulled the family to the shore. Soon thereafter, they found a note in her car describing her financial difficulties and emotional stress and stating “I’m desperate” and “life has gotten to me.”

Welfare authorities were called to take protective care of the family and decide what steps to take next. The woman’s lawyer, Saher Par, said the case may not be transferred to criminal prosecution but be looked at as a welfare concern instead.

The woman’s desperate act follows several acts and attempted acts of self-immolation carried out in the past week and a half in response to financial crises.