Last update - 00:00 10/10/2007
Daughter allegedly slips mother 97 pills in attempt to kill her
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
The police never suspected anything: a 63 year-old woman was found unconscious in her home Sunday after she drank a fruit shake containing almost 100 sleeping pills.
Next to her bed was a suicide note in her own handwriting. The woman was rushed to the hospital, the doctors managed to save her. All the signs pointed to a suicide attempt.
But two days ago, after two days in a coma, the woman woke up and told her story. The police arrested the daughter, Lilach Dayah, for attempted murder. She was remanded yesterday for eight days.
The investigation showed that the mother and the daughter had recently fought, and police suspect that the daughter became fed up with her mother's complaints about her - so she made her a drink with bananas, dates and 97 pills of various types. The mother did not want to drink it, and complaining to her daughter that it was too bitter.
The police suspect the daughter, who tried to force her mother to continue drinking, made an emotional scene saying "again you're telling me that I'm a failure."
The mother added sugar, drank and then collapsed.
The daughter, it is alleged, saw what happened, locked the door, and swallowed 20 sleeping pills herself. The father came home and found his unconscious wife and the suicide note.
The daughter's lawyer claimed that at most she had helped her mother to commit suicide. She was sent for a psychiatric examination.