Slovenian woman cut her hand to pay for insurance

A court in Slovenia on Friday sentenced a 22-year-old woman to two years in prison for deliberately cutting her hand with a circular saw to file a fraudulent insurance claim.

The Ljubljana district court said Julija Adlesic agreed with her boyfriend to have her left hand cut off above the wrist at their home in the capital in early 2019. She was found guilty of attempted insurance fraud.

About a year earlier, he had signed contracts with five different insurance companies, the court said. The woman went on to collect more than 1 million euros ($ 1.78 million), about half paid immediately and the rest in regular monthly installments.

Her boyfriend was sentenced to three years in prison, while her father received a one-year suspended sentence.

The couple had taken her to the hospital, saying she had been injured while cutting branches. Authorities said they cut off the hand instead of taking it to hospital to make sure the disability was permanent. But the police recovered it and put it back.

Prosecutors said days before the incident, Adlesic’s partner searched the Internet for information about how artificial hands work. They claimed that this was another proof that it was done deliberately.

During the trial, the woman pleaded not guilty and said she never deliberately cut her hand.

“Nobody wants to be crippled,” he told the court. “My youth has been destroyed. I lost my hand at the age of 20. Only I know how it happened.”

The trial has attracted much public and media attention in the small alpine state.

“We believe that the sentences are fair and appropriate, and will serve their purpose,” said Judge Marjeta Dvornik.

– AP