Veronique John, the mother, is accused of stabbing her son Ethan John more than 20 times, brain-damaging her daughter Elizabeth John, and stabbing her partner Nathan John in the stomach while wearing a dressing robe at a car wash.
After that, Veronique John went back home, dialled 999, and said to the operator, “I am calling to report I just killed my two kids,” according to testimony given during a trial-of-facts hearing at Nottingham Crown Court.
The employee of the charity shop is then said to have said to police, upon their arrival at her Stoke-on-Trent house on June 11 of last year, “Shoot me if you have a gun.” He was going to take them away from me, but I’m not a monster.
Additionally, it was said that John, who had been imprisoned for beating her husband because she thought he was having an affair, was so furious that she told the interviewing officials, “I didn’t want my husband to get them.”
She declared: “Just killing myself and the kids is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.” I’m out of things to say unless you guys are offering me the death penalty.I took action to safeguard my kids because I love them.I would wish to be executed if it is a feasible option. I really do mean it.
Veronique John, a charity shop worker, is facing charges for the murder of her son Ethan John and daughter Elizabeth John. The woman, born on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, allegedly stabbed her son more than 20 times and inflicted brain damage on her daughter before heading to a car wash in a dressing gown to stab her partner Nathan John in the stomach. Veronique John then dialled 999, telling the operator that she was calling to report she had killed her two kids.
John is charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder, and an alternative count of wounding, but has been ruled unfit to plead. The court heard that John and her husband had experienced profound difficulties in their relationship, with her not wanting him to have an internet-enabled phone. On June 9, last year, the jury was told that John became angry and struck her husband with a wooden slat while their children were getting ready for bed.
John then made a complaint to police, who arrested her at her home on the night of June 10 and interviewed her under caution. Shortly after 2pm on June 11, John went to the car wash where her husband had stayed the night and stabbed him in the stomach. The prosecutor added that what happened on the 11th of June didn’t come out of the blue.
Ethan was pronounced dead after being found in a bedroom with a 17cm-long neck wound, while Elizabeth was discovered in the living room, having suffered head trauma and ‘three areas of sharp force’ injury, including to her stomach.
The trial judge, Mr Justice Choudhury, explained that the jurors’ task during the expected six-day trial would be to find whether Veronique John did the acts charged against her. The judge said that this trial is slightly unusual as the defendant has been found to be under a disability, and the jury’s task is to decide whether the defendant did the acts of unlawfully inflicting injuries on and killing Ethan and Elizabeth which led to their deaths, and unlawfully inflicting injuries to Mr John.
The trial continues, with the jury urged to strive for an objective assessment of the evidence at all times.
