A mother in the United Kingdom erupted into violence and killed her two children because she did not want her husband to have them.
Veronique John, 50 years old , allegedly stabbed her 11 years old son Ethan John, more than 20 times and inflicted brain damage on her 7 years old daughter Elizabeth John, in June 2023, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The trial-of-facts hearing was told that the accused, wearing her dressing gown, then headed to a car wash to stab her husband Nathan John, in the stomach before returning to her Stoke-on-Trent home and phoning 999.
Veronique John is charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder, and an alternative count of wounding but has been ruled unfit to plead.
The jury heard the charity shop worker told police who arrived at her home on Tuesday,June 11 “If you have a gun shoot me, I am not a monster he was going to take them from me.”
She is being treated at a secure hospital and was not present in the dock to hear the Crown’s opening speech.
Before the prosecution opened the case, trial judge Justice Choudhury informed jurors that their task would be to determine whether John committed the acts charged against her.
Prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith told the court John’s “rage was boiling just under the surface a day after she was arrested on suspicion of assaulting her husband with a piece of wood amid her own suspicion he was having an affair.”
The court heard that the couple had experienced significant difficulties in their relationship with her opposing his use of an internet-enabled phone.
Grieves-Smith told the hearing that John, who was born on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, killed her children just hours after making a chilling internet search asking, Can a foreigner be charged with murder in the UK?
Mr Grieves-Smith said “What happened on Tuesday June 11 didn’t come out of the blue.
“Tension grew in the days before. That day she just erupted, killed her children and attacked Nathan.”
John is said to have later told officers who interviewed her “It’s something I was thinking about for a long time just kill myself and the kids. Unless you guys are offering me the death penalty I have nothing else to say.”
The court also heard John said she “did it because I love my children to protect the children, if there’s any possible way I could be put to death, I would like that.”
During his opening remarks, the judge acknowledged that such cases naturally evoke strong emotions but urged the jury to strive for an objective assessment of the evidence.
The trial, which is expected to last six days, continues.
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