Verdict Announced in Rekha Kumari-Baker Murder Trial

September 22, 2009

Last week I brought you the story of Rekha Kumari-Baker, a 41-year-old woman from the United Kingdom who recently went on trial for the 2007 murders of her two teenage daughters. The jury finished its deliberations in the case, and a verdict was announced yesterday.

During the two-week trial, prosecutors told the Cambridge Crown Court jury how Kumari-Baker murdered 16-year-old Davina Michelle Baker and 13-year-old Jasmine Baker in cold blood on the morning of June 13, 2007. Prosecutor John Farmer said that Kumari-Baker had launched a "frenzied" attack on the girls while they slept, stabbing them multiple times.

Farmer told the jury that Kumari-Baker killed her daughters because she was unhappy over the custody arrangement she had with her ex-husband. She disliked his new partner, and she resented the close relationship he had with the girls. The murders were, according to Farmer, intended to "wreak havoc in [David Baker's] life."

Kumari-Baker's lawyers did not attempt to deny she had killed her children. Instead, they argued that she suffered from a mental abnormality, which diminished her responsibility. They hoped she would be found guilty of nothing more than manslaughter.

The jury in the case deliberated for just 35 minutes yesterday before announcing that they had unanimously found Kumari-Baker guilty on both counts of murder.

During today's sentencing hearing, Farmer read extracts from a victim impact statement that was written by the girl's father, David Baker. It read in part:

"My words may not be sufficient. Having them taken away from me in such a brutal way and by the woman who was their mother has had an incalculable effect. I am haunted by the horror of the events of that night and probably will remain so for a long time."

Click here to continue reading this story >

Rekha Kumari-Baker on Trial for Murder of Teen Daughters

September 14, 2009

One of the cases I covered for CourtTV in 2007 involved Rekha Kumari-Baker (photo here), a 39-year-old woman from the United Kingdom, who was arrested for allegedly stabbing her two teenage daughters to death as they slept. That case finally went to court earlier this month in Cambridge Crown Court. The jury is still hearing the evidence; however details that have since been released paint a very bleak picture of the events leading up to the girl's deaths.

On the morning of June 13, 2007, Kumari-Baker called a friend, Natalie Boyes-Bartlett - who also happens to be a police constable – and allegedly told her: "I've killed the kids. The children are dead."

Not long after the call, Boyes-Bartlett and a colleague, Sgt Jenny Johnstone, arrived at Kumari-Baker's three-bedroom home in Stretham. When they entered the home they discovered the bodies of 16-year-old Davina Michelle Baker and her sister, 13-year-old Jasmine, in an upstairs bedroom. Both of the girls had been stabbed repeatedly. Following the discovery of the bodies, police arrested Kumari-Baker on suspicion of murder. 

According to a 2007 online report by The Guardian, Detective Superintendent Jeff Hill described the murders as a "terrible, tragic situation," adding, "We are not looking for anyone else in connection with this inquiry."

Kumari-Baker and her husband, David Baker, had divorced in 2003. According to friends, Jasmine lived with her mother and Davina lived with her father.

In the wake of the girl's deaths, it was discovered that they had both created profiles on the social networking Web site Bebo.com. 

Using the screen name "lil-davvi" Davina wrote:

"My family means more than life its self to me, but I don't always show it … everything happens for a reason … Plenty of time to sleep when I die. Never look forward. Never look back. Have respect. Be a dreamer and believe. Jasmine is my number one."

On her own Bebo.com profile, Jasmine went by the screen name "THiis is Thee SHHIIZZLE du-de." She listed some of her likes as, "people, make-up, family, meeting people, being happy, child hood, imagination and life."

On June 10, 2007, Jasmine left the following unedited comment on Davina's Bebo.com profile:

"Missing youu. its soo gay. momz like why do i alwayz have to take you jasmine, why cant yur dad take you and all this bllaa bllaa bllaa. you know how it is. lovee you soo muchh and really want to see you.  Jaziixxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx w//b."

Davina then responded with her own comment to Jasmine's profile:

"u can cum dis weekend if mum will bring u or sumfin … see you soon.  i love you so much more that words can say."

Jasmine had left several other comments for her sister.  Many of them described her sadness regarding their separation—"I miss you soooooooooo muchhhhhh"—and in others she expressed her feelings: "I love you to so unbelivablyy much -- you know that."

She had also created a photo album on her profile, which included 26 photos of the two girls. One of the most touching is a photo of the girls holding hands, which they titled, "Will never let go."

So while it is obvious the girls had a solid relationship, what of their mother and what was the motive behind the murders? Those are two key questions that prosecutors have been addressing since the start of Kumari-Baker's trial.

Click here to continue reading this story >

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown on the Nikki Catsouras Case

May 06, 2009

Yesterday, I brought you the story of Nikki Catsouras, an 18-year-old girl from Orange County, Calif., who died in a horrific car accident in October 2006. Since that time, morbid and insensitive individuals who hide on the Internet's darker side have continued to harass Nikki's family by sending them taunting emails about their daughter's death, along with horrific crime scene photos of the accident. Those photos have since gone viral and can be found on thousands of Internet Web sites.

Read: Nikki Catsouras Crime Scene Photos Haunt Deceased Teen's Family

So what is it that drives these morbid individuals to partake in this bizarre fetish and why do they enjoy harassing Nikki's family? In an effort to better understand the motivations behind it, Investigation Discovery has reached out to Investigative Criminal Profiler Pat Brown and asked her to share her thoughts on the subject. 

"There are many people in this world who are titillated by gore and death," Brown said. "They gain some perverse feeling of power, a sense of triumph, to see others brutally killed, to see the mutilation of the body, the destruction of another human being. When that person is attractive, well-healed, and successful, the thrill is even stronger. It is a "Ha-Ha, look what happened to you!" triumph for the individual who feels he himself has not received enough attention or glory in his life. In his own mind, he would enjoy tearing apart people, taking them all down off their perches, showing them who has the power to control life and death. But, since they are too chicken to become serial killers, they live through gore sites and slasher movies."

According to Brown, individuals who choose to only look at look at fictionalized gore and mayhem are able to justify it because it is not real - they are not actually glorifying and salivating over harm to others. On the flip side, "gore freaks" have no qualms about delighting themselves with actual photos and videos of people who have been brutalized.

"They relish that a real human being has come to such an end. And, even worse, there are those, who actual push the horror, pain, and humiliation the victims have suffered into the faces of their families, a form of sadism which gives them a increased feeling of winning," Brown said. "They know they are causing great anguish to another human being and they love it. Such behavior is a form of serial predation, using mental torture as opposed to physical torture."