TURA: A 21-year-old woman, who was reportedly suffering from mental illness, murdered her three children and later killed herself on Tuesday afternoon in the Dainadubi region of North Garo Hills district. This gruesome incident was discovered by the husband of the deceased woman when he returned home.
The husband, Martin W Sangma, had left home in the village of Lower Tombuma to procure some traditional herbal medicines from the Assam village of Bolbolla in Goalpara to treat his wife, Mimi Samchi K Sangma, who had been ailing with mental sickness for the past three months.
When he returned at around 3:00 pm, he found to his horror that his three children had been gruesomely killed with their throats slit inside their bedroom. His wife was also found dead with a stab wound to the side of her neck.
The three children were identified as Grikkat K Sangma (5 years), Chekam Wedo (2 years 3 months) and Chegasa Pangkame (1 year 3 months).
Preliminary inquiry by police indicated that the mother had killed her children before killing herself by using a ‘khukuri’, a dagger without a handle that was found in the same room.
During questioning, the husband, relatives of his deceased wife and neighbours told police that she had been under some kind of prolonged mental illness and it had aggravated in the last three months, informed North Garo Hills SP Sacheng Marak. Living on meagre earnings working as a labourer, the husband had no financial assistance to seek expert medical care and had resorted to traditional medicines to try and cure his wife.
An autopsy and a magisterial inquest have been conducted as investigations continue to rule out any foul play.
