CAMBRIDGE – A mother who stabbed her two teenage daughters to death as they slept must remain in jail until at least 2040, a UK judge has ruled.
Mr Justice Bean told Cambridge crown court Rekha Kumari-Baker (41) would be 72 before she could be considered for parole.
The judge imposed a minimum 33-year prison term after Kumari-Baker’s former husband, David Baker, told of his “incalculable” suffering.
The judge said Kumari-Baker, a waitress, had already spent two years and 92 days in custody and therefore had at least 30 years and 276 days left of her sentence.
A jury on Monday found Kumari-Baker guilty of murder following a two-week trial.
Prosecutors said Kumari-Baker, of Stretham, Cambridgeshire, killed Davina Baker (16) and Jasmine Baker (14) to “wreak havoc” on Mr Baker.
The jury heard Kumari-Baker attacked the girls at her home in June 2007 – stabbing Davina 37 times and Jasmine 29.
Kumari-Baker mounted a diminished responsibility defence – with lawyers arguing she was suffering from an “abnormality” of mind which made her guilty of manslaughter not murder. But jurors took just 35 minutes to conclude she was not mentally ill.
The judge imposed two mandatory life terms after telling the court that her defence was “flimsy and insubstantial”. He said he thought her motive was a combination of mild depression and a wish to retaliate against her former husband. – (PA)