PREGNANT MOTHER SLITS CHILDREN'S THROATS IN SURREY HOME
A pregnant woman named Sasikala Navaneethan was found to have committed a shocking act of violence against her three children.She slit the throats of her children, killing two of them, and took rat poison because she saw no point in living, as reported at the Old Bailey.
Navaneethan also expressed that she was being beaten by her husband and did not want to leave her children behind.
She stabbed and cut the throats of her five-year-old son Shanjayan, her four-year-old daughter Sharani, and her six-month-old baby girl.
Police discovered the three children lined up on a bed at their home in Carshalton, Surrey, in May last year.
Navaneethan, aged 37 from Sri Lanka, pleaded guilty to two charges of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and also to attempted murder of her baby Trishana, who survived despite a severe neck wound.
She was committed to a psychiatric hospital indefinitely.
A note was found under the bed along with her jewelry and knives, claiming her husband's affair and her feelings of despair.
She had also caused knife wounds to her neck and ingested poisons such as rat killer and weedkiller.
Her husband, Navarajah, claimed they had a happy family life, although she had suffered a mental breakdown during the Sri Lankan civil war and post-partum depression after Trishana's birth.
The court recognized her mental illness was a significant factor, and she was advised to receive treatment rather than punishment.
She later gave birth to another daughter while in the hospital.
Her case highlights the tragic consequences of mental illness intertwined with domestic challenges.
