Court denies infanticide mother's petition to attend son's funeral
Petah Tikva District Court denies Olga Borisov's plea to attend four-year-old's funeral; cites her mental state may deteriorate further if allowed to attend
The Petah Tikva District Court denied Sunday Olga Borisov's petition to be allowed to take part in her son's funeral. Borisov, who is suspected of drowning her four-year-old son last week, filed an appeal with in the matter earlier Sunday.
"The police should not be tasked with escorting the mother to the funeral… if her mental state is indeed as previously described, she would be better off not attending the funeral, which may prove to be even more detrimental to her psychological state," Justice Avraham Tal, who presiding over the appeal's hearing, wrote in his ruling.
Alon will be laid to rest at a Rishon Lezion cemetery later today.
The child's father, Ilan Yehuda, was questioned on suspicion of failing to prevent a criminal act.
Meanwhile, certain questions regarding the welfare services' handling of the affair have surfaced. Last August Borisov was admitted to the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon due to stress. Details of the incident were disclosed to the welfare services, as is customary in such cases.
"We met with the father, mother and the boy, but found nothing out of the ordinary," said Naomi Ahimor of the Tel Aviv Municipality's Department of Social Welfare.
"It was our professional opinion that the child was loved. She (Olga) spoke to him constantly and treated him with kindness. There was no indication that the boy was in distress or that the mother was ignoring him. The relationship in the household appeared to be very stable and warm.
'One-time incident.' Olga and Alon (Photo reproduction: Yariv Katz)
According to Ahimor, following the meeting the welfare department concluded that "the family seemed very normal and there was no need to intervene in its affairs".
The welfare services did not stay in touch with the family or file a report on the case.
"As far as we were concerned, the family did not require any assistance, and did not ask for it either," Ahimor continued. "It appeared to be a one-time incident (mother's admission to the hospital), and therefore did not warrant our continued treatment.
"The incident was not an indication of anything, certainly not of what happened over the weekend (drowning)," she said.
Yael Branovsky contributed to the report
