Murder of Australian Tamil twins a “tragic incident” say Police

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 July 2009, 16:08 GMT]
A mother has been charged with murdering her seven-month-old twins after an apparent murder suicide attempt on Monday. Selvin Ariyaratnam called paramedics after discovering his wife unconscious at their home in Perth, with the infants lying nearby. The trio was rushed to hospital, where the babies were pronounced dead hours later despite frantic efforts to resuscitate them. Ms Ariyaratnam, an Australian of Thai heritage, was charged with murder on Friday amid an outpouring of grief from across the nation.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Fyfe, of the major crime squad described the death as “a tragic, tragic incident which has taken its toll on the family”.

“He [Mr Ariyaratnam] appears to have pretty much held it together until the arrival of the police and the paramedics, and that was when his grief started setting in,” Sergeant Fyfe said.

Colleagues of Selvin Ariyaratnam at engineering firm Calibre Global expressed their condolences and support to the 30 year old of Tamil origin, who completed his studies in Australia after arriving from Sri Lanka, describing him as popular and immensely talented.

“Selvin is a lovely man, very caring. He is an excellent engineer and a pleasure to work with. This is a great tragedy” co worker Clive Perrett told The West Australian.

The incident has sent shockwaves throughout the nation, with social networking sites and editorials inundated with messages of condolences and support for the family.

Mrs. Ariyaratnam, who regained concious from a coma on Thursday after a suspected overdose on prescription drugs, was charged with two counts of murder at a bedside hearing at Royal Perth Hospital.

Although neighbours and friends described the family as loving and happy, reports that Rita was suffering from post natal depression, have surfaced throughout the media.

Post mortems on the children had failed to determine a precise cause of death. Detectives will now await the results of toxicology tests.