A mother-of-three who killed herself in a Swiss suicide clinic did so to punish her estranged lawyer husband for getting custody of their kids, it has been claimed.
Catherine Kassenoff, 54, of Westchester, took to Facebook in May of last year to pen a note where she announced she would be ‘ending my own life’.
Kassenoff, who’d worked as a successful litigator, had claimed her husband Allan Kassenoff had been abusing her and their children for years, and that it led to her taking her own life amid their custody battle.
DETAILS OF THE CHILD CUSTODY BATTLE
Allan was given sole custody of their three daughters, with his wife opting to kill herself after she lost visitation rights and was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
New details have since emerged about her suicide, as well as claims from former nannies that Catherine had punished her own adopted daughter by ‘dripping water’ on her all day so she couldn’t sleep.
She is accused of treating her other daughters who were later born via IVF in a much kinder way.
SHE DROPPED EVIDENCE
As part of her Facebook post, Catherine also released thousands of court documents, alongside videos of her husband, in a now defunct Dropbox link.
Brewer had written in his report for the Pegasos Swiss Association that Catherine was of a ‘sound enough mind’ to end her life.
Unlike the better-known Dignitas suicide clinic, which is for chronically or terminally-ill people, Pegasos will help people who are not on the verge of dying to end their lives.
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SHE PLANNED IT TWICE
He also revealed that she had originally intended to kill herself twice, with the original date set for October 2022 being postponed for administrative reasons.
Brewer told the outlet that he had to rewrite medical reports for her every time, saying: ‘She was always very calm.
‘She got naturally a bit exasperated when talking about her husband. [She was] very clear about what she wanted to do and why she wanted to do it.’
According to Brewer, her cancer diagnosis was never the reason for her ending her life but rather a ‘existential assisted suicide.
He said: ‘She was just concerned that she had been treated abominably by her husband.’
