The court heard that Mrs John and her husband had difficulties in their relationship
A woman called Veronique John, 50, called 999 and confessed “I have just killed my two children” after stabbing them with a knife, Nottingham Crown Court was told. According to GuardianMrs. John killed her 7-year-old daughter Elizabeth and her 11-year-old son Ethan because she didn’t want her husband to have custody of them.
She stabbed her son, Ethan, more than 20 times and inflicted brain damage on her daughter, Elizabeth, before tracking down her husband, Nathan John, and stabbing him in the stomach.
During the court hearing, it was revealed that Mrs. John stabbed Ethan more than 20 times and caused brain damage to his daughter Elizabeth. She then went to a car wash wearing a bathrobe and stabbed her partner, Nathan John, in the stomach.
She then returned home, dialed 999 and said: “I am calling to inform you that I have just killed my two children.”
The charity shop worker allegedly told police who arrived at her home in Stoke-on-Trent on June 11 last year: “If you have a gun, shoot me. I’m not a monster – he would take it away.” there from me.”
The day before the fatal attacks, John was arrested for attacking her husband with a piece of wood while their children were getting ready for bed, suspecting him of having an affair.
The court heard that John and her husband had significant difficulties in their relationship and she did not want him to have a phone with internet access.
Prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith said Ms John’s “rage was boiling just below the surface” in the hours leading up to the children’s deaths.
“What happened on June 11th didn’t come out of nowhere. Tensions built in the days before. That day she just exploded, killed her children and attacked Nathan,” he said.
Grieves-Smith claimed Mrs John killed her children just hours after carrying out a “chilling” internet search, asking: “Can a foreigner be charged with murder in the UK?”
Ethan was pronounced dead after being found in a bedroom with a 17cm long neck wound, while Elizabeth was discovered in the living room with head trauma and “three areas of sharp force”, including one to the stomach.
The jury heard that a neighbor reported hearing “high-pitched screams and crying that lasted for a while” just minutes before John walked to the car wash where her husband spent the night.
The court heard how the 50-year-old later told interviewing officers: “I didn’t want my husband to catch them [the children].”
She continued: “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time – just killing myself and the kids. Unless you are offering me the death penalty, I have nothing more to say.
“I did it because I love my children – to protect them. If there’s any possible way I could be put to death, I would like that. I mean, 100%.”
Ms John is charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding, but was found incompetent to plead, Sky News reported.
She is currently being treated in a secure hospital and was not present in the dock to hear the Crown’s opening statement.
The trial is ongoing.
This story originally appeared on Ndtv.com read the full story
