Ont. Mom Charged with Murder After 2 Kids Slain

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Ont. mom charged with murder after 2 kids slain

An Ontario mother has been charged with first-degree murder after she was found in the bathtub of her Markham, Ont. home with the bodies of her two daughters, her own wrists and throat bleeding.

Thirty-year-old Sivananthi Elango is in serious condition and under police guard in hospital while autopsies are underway on two-year-old Renu and three-month-old Movlika.

"The evidence before us right now is enough to support a first-degree murder charge," York police Insp. Tony Cusimano told reporters on Friday.

"In first-degree (murder) there has to be supporting evidence that there is a plan and deliberation."

A male tenant, who is unrelated to the family, called emergency services at around 7 p.m. on Thursday. Elango's parents were also home at the time, but police wouldn't say where they were at the time of the murders.

The father of the girls was out running errands and returned home to find emergency crews on the scene, police said.

The children were pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital Thursday night.

Cusimano said paint thinner was found in the bathroom but he declined to comment on its significance.

Elango is to be remanded in custody but her medical condition will dictate where she will be held.

Meanwhile, the quiet neighbourhood north of Toronto where the family lived is reeling from the tragedy.

People brought flowers to the home, trying to understand why a mother would allegedly kill her daughters.

"I'm a mother of four," neighbour Shanti Sookram said. "It's really hard, you know, to come to see this tragedy here."

Neighbours said they knew little about the family, which had only moved into the McCowan Road and 14th Avenue area around Christmas, but may have been in Canada since the early 1990s.

Police won't speculate what played a role in the deaths, but admit post-partum depression or post-partum psychosis are theories they are considering.

Dr. Diane Meschino, psychiatrist at Toronto's Women's College Hospital, told CTV News the post-partum period is a highly vulnerable time for mothers.

"Women are under-identified and very under-serviced in this area. … Based on our British statistics, about five of every 1,000 deliveries will be associated with severe psychiatric disorders, requiring intensive treatment, often in-patient treatment," she said.

She explained that post-partum psychosis is a disorder that is rarer among new mothers than post-partum depression, which is often called "baby blues."

"That's one to two per 1,000 deliveries … In that illness, by definition, women are psychotic, they've lost touch with reality."

In late 2004, Toronto mother Andrea Labbe, in a severe bout of postpartum psychosis, killed her husband, her three-year-old daughter, and then attempted to kill her two-year-old daughter, before turning the knife on herself.

With a report from CTV's Peter Murphy