Slovenian woman cut off her hand for insurance payout

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

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

About a year earlier, she signed contracts with five different insurance companies, the court said. The woman stood to collect more than 1 million euros, about half paid immediately and the rest in regular monthly installments.

Her boyfriend was sentenced to three years in prison while his father received a one-year suspended sentence.The pair had taken her to the hospital, saying she had injured herself while sawing branches. Authorities said they left the severed hand behind rather than bringing it to the hospital to ensure the disability was permanent. But police recovered and it was reattached.