London: Keralite Saju Chelavelil, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Monday for the gruesome murder of his wife and two children late last year at their home in Kettering town in the UK, sobbed uncontrollably in remorse during the trial.
The dramatic scenes happened inside the Northampton Crown court when a recorded phone voice, which turned out to be the crucial evidence in the case, was played out in the court and his children could be heard pleading with him to spare the life of their dear mother.
The police report charged the Kannur native with choking to death his wife and children using a gown twine. His phone was in recording mode at the time of the cruel act, but he didn’t realise the same. The 90-minute audio in the phone, which the cops seized, became the key evidence that led to the court awarding him the 40-year jail term.
The prosecution played out a vital part of the audio, lasting one-and-a-half minutes, in the court where his children could be heard screaming and pleading to him to spare the life of their mother. The groan of his wife imploring him not to kill her too could be heard. At this moment, Saju began to weep uncontrollably. He regained his composure a little later and was emotionless when the court sentenced him to 40 years behind bars.
The gruesome murders happened on the intervening night of December 14 and 15, last year, at their rented house in Kettering in Northamptonshire. Saju Chelavelil (52), a native of Padiyoor, Sreekandapuram in Kannur district, killed his wife Anju Ashok (36) first, and daughters Jeeva (six), and Janvi (four), at least four hours later.
On the fateful day, an altercation broke out between the couple when Anju returned home after duty. According to police, Saju then suffocated his wife to death around 2 am. He tried to kill his children by giving them sleeping pills. When it failed, he suffocated them to death by tightening the twine around their necks.
According to the investigation report, Saju committed the horrifying murders on suspicion of his wife having an illicit affair. He suspected her of frequently contacting someone else using her email account and through phone messages.
The Northampton Crown court had sent Saju, arrested on the same day, to judicial custody till the case trial gets over. The bodies of Anju and the two children were brought back to her native place in Kerala, following the interference of the Indian High Commission and the UUKMA (Union of UK Malayalee Associations).