A father who’s a builder has been jailed for life for murdering his own kids by putting building foam down their throats to get revenge on his estranged wife.
Little Leo, 5, and Maya, 2, were murdered by their own dad who injected fast-acting construction foam down their gullets to block their airways and ensure they would not be resuscitated
The Frenchman, identified only as 55-year-old Laurent F. because of local privacy laws where he lives in Dresden, Germany, had put little Leo, 5, and Maya, 2, into bed to make it look like they were sleeping after blocking their tiny airways with the foam.
He then tried to murder his estranged wife and the mother of his children, but her thick wig cushioned the blow as he struck her on the head from behind with a heavy object.
Laurent F. only admitted killing his young children once his trial had already got underway.
He will have to serve at least 20 years in prison and has already been in investigative custody since he was arrested over the murder in May last year.
The construction boss had been living in Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, since 1992.
His building firm had got into serious financial difficulties, and two years ago his wife moved out of the family home.
The court heard he increasingly blamed his ex-wife for his troubles and wanted revenge, putting his twisted plot into action when the two children were staying with him.
Prosecutor Till von Borries told a court he was acting out of revenge because his wife had separated from him and injured his self-esteem.
On the day of the murders, Laurent took pictures of his children, with Leo smiling with his bike and Maya holding an ice cream.
The court heard that, not satisfied by the shocking killing, he had then tucked the tiny bodies up in bed to make it seem as if they were sleeping, and waited for his ex-wife to turn up.
He telephoned his wife – identified only as 27-year-old Marieta F., of Senegalese descent – to bring some cuddly rabbit toys Maya had left at home.
He struck her on the head from behind with a heavy object but her thick wig cushioned the blow as he then continued trying to attack her, strangling her as she tried to make it to the entrance to the building, where she collapsed unconscious.
When the neighbours tried to awaken the children, they at first thought they were sleeping, and when they realised that they were not breathing and tried to resuscitate them, they discovered their mouths filled with construction foam.
An expert testimony, which was rejected by the defence, alleged that the action was designed to cause the “maximum damage to his wife”.
He was found guilty of two counts of murder, and one count of attempted murder for the attack on his ex-wife.
A psychologist found Laurent was an aggressive narcissist who showed a lack of empathy, but he was found fit to stand trial, MailOnline reports.
Laurent’s other previous offences included rape and arson, the paper reports.
Source: Daily Mirror
