Mom kills teen girls to 'wreak havoc' on hubby

Stabbed her daughter Davina (16) 39 times and then went to the next room to kill Jasmine (13) while they were asleep in the night

Stabbed her daughter Davina (16) 39 times and then went to the next room to kill Jasmine (13) while they were asleep in the night

Rekha Kumari-Baker, a hotel worker accused of killing her teenage daughters while they slept may have done so to "wreak havoc" on her ex-husband, the Cambridge Crown Court was told yesterday during her trial.

Kumari-Baker first stabbed Davina (16) 39 times and then went to the next room and killed Jasmine (13) on June 13, 2007.

Lawyer for the prosecution, John Farmer, told the jury that Kumari-Baker had planned the murder when she took the two girls on a shopping trip to the Lakeside Centre in Essex on June 11, 2007.
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Murdered: Davinau00a0and Jasmine were allegedly killed by their mother who was angry that they were getting close to their father's new love interest

The long trip from her home in Cambridgeshire was her attempt to "soften up" the teenagers and ensure that they would be asleep during the night and "available to be killed", he said.
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She even bought a knife that evening. According to Farmer, she arranged another shopping expedition to Lakeside for the following day. After this trip, she woke at around 2.30 am, and killed the girls.

Confession

She went home and at 6.30 am telephoned her friend Natalie Barford, a special police constable, and left a message saying: "I've done something terrible Natalie. Please call me."
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When Barford rang she allegedly told her, "I have killed the kids, the children are dead." In another phone call, she is alleged to have said, "I stabbed them with knives from the kitchen.
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This is terrible. At least the children are safe now. Nobody else can hurt them." She later told the police she had not made any such admissions.

Custody trouble

Farmer told the court that there had been "much contention" between Kumari-Baker and her ex-husband, David Baker, over the care and custody of their children. She was concerned that her children were spending time with Baker's new girlfriend.

Last straw

But it was the breakdown of her relationship with her new partner, Jeff Powell, which apparently triggered the attack, the prosecutor added.

A note signed Rekha was found at her house, which read "Jeff hurt me so much I cannot explain. He found it difficult to compromise at times but I loved him so much."

However, Kumari-Baker continues to deny the allegations.