Young mother is a danger to herself

LORENA DE RAFAEL CINTAS, aged 28, escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Arevelo (Avila) on October 26.

Her mother, Ines Cintas, told a Telecinco interviewer that her greatest fear was that Lorena, already the mother of four children, could become pregnant before an court-ordered sterilisation could be carried out.

She also needs constant medication, Ines said.  “Anything could happen without it.”

Lorena’s mental health problems include Munchausen syndrome where someone pretends to be ill or deliberately produces the symptoms of illness, Ines explained.

Her daughter has been admitted to hospital 400 times and taken to intensive care on 300 occasions, including one incident when she stole her sister’s asthma medication to produce a heart attack.

“Lorena is very manipulative,” she told Telecinco.

“She obtained money from one man after telling him she had had his child, using a photo where she posed with a friend’s baby.  She also convinced a doctor to recognise one of her children as his, so she could obtain custody.”

Meanwhile, Lorena had received some 50 restraining orders, barring her from approaching the men whom she has attempted to extort.

A court declared her incapable last July, withdrawing custody of her four children and ordered her to be sterilised in Castellon, where she was receiving psychiatric treatment.

Since there were no vacancies in Castellon, Lorena was transferred to the centre in Arevalo where she managed to escape.

Her daughter’s psychiatric problems first became noticeable when she was 16, but Lorena was “very intelligent” and “anybody” could be taken in by her, Ines told Telecinco.

“She has perfected her technique over time.  She does it very well, and it works very well.”

At the same time, Lorena was also very vulnerable, her mother added. “Just as she has taken advantage of people, others can take advantage of her.  She moves in risky circles.”