TOURS (AFP) –- A French woman who admitted killing three of her own babies, burning one corpse and hiding the others in the family freezer, was sentenced to eight years in jail.

Veronique Courjault had faced a possible life sentence after she admitted to smothering two baby boys born in secret at her expat home in South Korea in 2002 and 2003, and a third child born in France in 1999.
Wearing a navy blue-and-white checked shirt, her hair pulled back in a pony tail, the 41-year-old wept openly after her sentence was read out, at the close of an emotional eight-day trial that has gripped France.
She exchanged a final glance with her husband Jean-Louis, who stood by her throughout the trial, and touched hands with her sisters, before being led out of the courtroom in the central city of Tours.
Smiling with relief, Jean-Louis Courjault, 42 told reporters he and the couple’s two older sons, now 12 and 14, were happy with the verdict.
“This is a sentence that will allow us to rebuild our lives, to see light at the end of the tunnel. In a few months, Veronique will be able to be reunited with her children, and we will have a new beginning.”
Since she has served almost three years in pre-trial detention, Courjault could be eligible for parole under French law in as little as a year, her lawyers said.
Part of their challenge was to decide whether Courjault -- described as a caring mother to her two older sons -- suffered from a mental illness when she gave birth alone to the babies and killed them.
Courjault could have faced life in jail for the triple infanticide, but prosecutors had finally sought 10 years.
She broke down repeatedly during the trial, at one point describing her actions as “monstrous, inexplicable.”
“I was aware I was pregnant, and then I lost that awareness. As far as I was concerned I wasn’t expecting a baby,” she told the court.
A heavyset woman, Courjault kept the three pregnancies hidden from her husband. He has supported his wife since her confession, visiting her in jail, and insisting she needs psychiatric help, not punishment.
Mental health experts were called to testify on a little-known condition identified as “pregnancy denial,” a deep disorder in which a woman suffers from a complete lack of awareness of being pregnant.
Prosecutor Philippe Varin finally argued that Courjault was not suffering from denial, although he said her troubled “personality” could be an alleviating factor in the case.
Already the mother of two young sons, Courjault hid two pregnancies from her husband after he moved the family to the South Korean capital Seoul to take a job as an engineer for the U.S. car parts company Delphi.
Jean-Louis Courjault found the infants’ bodies in the family freezer in July 2006 after going downstairs to put some fish in the icebox. He was initially charged as an accomplice, but the charges were later dropped.
The couple at first insisted they had no idea who the infants were, but after DNA tests showed they were the parents, Veronique Courjault admitted to their murder.
She later testified that she burned the body of a third baby in the fireplace of their home in France in 1999.
Taking the stand earlier Thursday, her face streaked with tears, Courjault told the court: “I tried to explain myself as best I could. I know my words weren’t good enough most of the time.
“I want to say that I know I killed our children, and that it is a fact that will stay with me.”
Called as witnesses, her family and in-laws all described her as a loving daughter, mother and wife, but one who had trouble expressing her emotions.
Defence lawyers had asked jurors to show understanding and allow the troubled family to rebuild their lives.
“This woman committed a mistake, a crime, but she is not a monster,” said lawyer Henri Leclerc in his closing arguments.