by Neil Mackay
(June 01, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The parents of two children stabbed to death at a house in south London were last night under arrest and being questioned by police. A five-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl were found with serious stab wounds at 111 Park Lane in the Carshalton area on the outskirts of London on Friday night.
The dead children's baby sister, aged just six months, was found at the same address with severe stab wounds and is fighting for her life in hospital.
The children's father, who is 39, and mother, 35, are both being questioned by officers from Scotland Yard. Locals in the area said the family were from Sri Lanka.
Neighbours said they saw paramedics carrying the children from the two-bedroom detached house just after 10.30pm.
One neighbour said they had witnessed a "horrific" scene during which paramedics fought desperately to revive a "limp little body".
The neighbour, who asked not to be named, said she saw a "tiny bundle" brought out of the home. "It was obviously a child," she said. "It's horrific for something like this to happen here."
Murder Squad detectives and the Child Abuse Investigation Command are now investigating the killings.
The little boy and girl died within 15 minutes of each other, just before midnight on Friday, after reaching hospital. The baby's condition has since improved from critical to serious.
Sen Gupta, who lives opposite the house where the children were attacked, said the family were Tamils from Sri Lanka and had been residents for less than a year. He described seeing friends and relatives crying and screaming when they learned of the deaths.
"They moved in less than a year ago," he said. "She was still pregnant. Obviously, she has had the baby now.
"When it happened a group of people, also Sri Lankan, came to the house very soon after the police arrived. They were pacing up and down outside for a while. They said they had lived in the house with the couple but moved out because of problems.
"The police came out and spoke to them. They must have been telling them the children had died because they started screaming and crying."
Pam Thomas, another neighbour, said she also saw paramedics bringing the children's bodies out from the home. "When we heard the fire engines last night I looked out and I saw this paramedic carrying the baby scooped up in his arms," she said.
"There were so many ambulances, five or six, that I was expecting them to bring out more people. But when the man and the woman just walked out, quite normally, I couldn't believe it."
John Bailey, also a local resident, said 10 vehicles from the emergency services attended the scene. He described paramedics taking the children into the street and trying to resuscitate them.
"They put the children in the back of the ambulance and it stayed there for about five or 10 minutes," he said.
Another neighbour, Carol Bradley, said she had seen the children playing outside their house. "They were lovely little children, you know, really sweet," she said.
Local resident Jim Duffy said"he saw awoman, apparently unhurt,leaving the house with bloodstains on her back. "We saw them bringing a child out and then about half an hour later they came out with another child. Then a woman who had blood on her dress, on her back. She was dressed in Indian-style clothes and they took her into an ambulance, not a police car.
"About half an hour later a chap came out. He was quite calm. They later put him in the cage at the back of the van."
Duffy described Carshalton as a pleasant "oasis" between Croydon and Sutton. "It's a popular area," he added. "You don't get fights or brawls, and even the kids are well-behaved, so this is very unusual."
Last night, the family home was secured by police tape as officers carried out a detailed examination of the scene.
Police officers were called to the house at 10.30pm. The little girl died in hospital at 11.41pm; the little boy was pronounced dead 15 minutes later.
Staff at the local newsagent's said the woman arrested went into the store on Friday asking for change to use the telephone. The worker, who asked not to be named, said: "She seemed quite normal, nothing untoward at all."
A Scotland Yard spokesman said police and London ambulance crews attended the scene and "found three children suffering serious injuries believed to be stab wounds".
The police say they "believe" they "know the identities of the deceased". However, detectives are waiting for "formal identification and confirmation that all family members have been informed" before releasing the names of the dead children.
Post-mortem examinations of the two victims are expected to take place early this week.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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