Mother gets 33 years for killing sleeping daughters

LONDON, Sept 22 — A mother who stabbed her teenage daughters to death as they slept at their home was given two life sentences today, and told she must serve at least 33 years in jail.

Rekha Kumari-Baker was found guilty at Cambridge Crown Court of using two kitchen knives to stab 16-year-old Davina 37 times and 13-year-old Jasmine 29 times.

Prosecutors said she had done it to “wreak havoc” on her ex-husband.

Judge Justice Bean imposed two mandatory life sentences and said Kumari-Baker should serve 33 years before being considered for parole, the Press Association reported.

The judge said the Parole Board would not consider her for release until 2040, when she will be 72.

“Most people will find it inexplicable that a mother could kill her own children and you have given no explanation for it,” Bean said.

During the two-week trial, jurors heard that Kumari-Baker attacked the girls in the early hours in June 2007 as they slept at her home in Stretham, Cambridgeshire.

Evidence at the trial showed that Davina — whose body was found kneeling on the floor — had put up a struggle.

Jurors were told that Kumari-Baker was unhappy about a new relationship her ex-husband had entered into. She was also upset by the break-up of her relationship with her new boyfriend.

Prosecutors suggested that she murdered the children in an attempt to wreak havoc on her ex-husband.

Psychiatrists called by the prosecution said Kumari-Baker was suffering from mild depression but did not have a mental disorder or mental illness. — Reuters