A mom who had recently moved to New Zealand was found guilty this week of murdering her three young children, 2-year-old twins and their 6-year-old sister.
The 42-year-old mother previously had admitted to killing the young twins, Maya and Karla, and their older sister Lianè, but pleaded not guilty to the murders, claiming she was mentally disturbed at the time. Prosecutors disputed those claims by pointing to her phone messages and online searches in the weeks before the killings, the Associated Press reported.
As prosecutors pointed out during a four-week trial, the woman made comments about wanting to kill her children. She also searched Google for “most effective overdose in kids.”
The mother, along with her husband Graham and three children, had recently moved to New Zealand from South Africa to escape the troubles in their home country.
Within days of the move, she tried to use zip ties to kill her children, but then suffocated them using pillows and placed them in their beds, under the covers. She then attempted to kill herself.
Both the woman and her husband were medical professionals. The convicted murderer was a doctor, while Graham was an orthopedic surgeon, the New Zealand Herald reported. When Graham came home from work on September 16, 2021, he found his children dead. He told police that his wife was struggling with mental health and motherhood, but insisted he had no idea she could commit the murders.
After a four-week trial, jurors took three days to return a guilty verdict on three counts of murder. One juror voted not guilty, but the 11-1 split is allowed under New Zealand laws, the AP reported.
The woman reportedly cried softly as she left the courtroom, with jurors seen crying as well.
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The woman’s parents released a statement following the verdict about the deaths of their grandchildren and their daughter’s mental health.
“We would like to encourage families and individuals around the world to be aware of the symptoms of post-partum depression as early as possible, both for yourselves as well as close family and friends around you,” said her parents, Malcolm and Wendy Fawkes.
Detective Inspector Scott Anderson also released a statement expressing sympathies from law enforcement to the convicted murderer’s family members.
“Words cannot begin to express the tragic circumstances of this investigation,” Anderson said in the statement.
The mother faces life in prison for the murders.