Kathleen Chada (right), mother of Eoghan and Ruairi who where murdered by their father Sanjeev, leaving the Criminal Courts of Justice last January. Pic:Mark Condren

Kathleen Chada, mother of Eoghan and Ruairi who where murdered by their father Sanjeev Chada, outside the Criminal Courts of Justice after he was jailed for life.Picture credit:Mark Condren.

Kathleen Chada speaking to the media outside court today after her husband Sanjeev Chada was given two life sentences after pleading guilty to murdering their two sons in at Ballintubber, Co Mayo in July last year. Photo: Courtpix

A father who murdered his two young sons said he killed them as he felt he was on the verge of separating from his wife and could not let them bear "the pain of being from a broken home".

Sanjeev Chada (44) was sentenced to life in prison yesterday, after he pleaded guilty to the double murder of Eoghan (10) and Ruairi (5), at Skehanagh Lower, Ballintubber,Co Mayo, on July 29 last year.

The two "popular, gorgeous boys" were found in the boot of their father's car after he strangled them to death, before attempting to take his own life.

The court heard yesterday that Chada had also planned to kill his wife Kathleen, but feared that she would be too strong.

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In a note to his children he wrote: "I could not let you bear the pain of being from a broken home. Mammy is getting rid of me and I could not leave you behind. I have so much to teach you but I could not do that if I was not with you.

"We will be together now in some way ... in the most beautiful country, your mate and Daddy."

Chada, of Ballinkillen, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, was handed two life sentences, to run concurrently, by Mr Justice Paul Carney in the Central Criminal Court.

His wife issued a heartbreaking statement in which she described the trauma of laying her sons to rest, and said: "I thought I knew my husband".

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Mr Justice Carney asked Mrs Chada to have a closer look at a photograph she had brought to court, before she started to read.

"How could Sanj have done this? I don't ask why anymore … just how? He even took Eoghan and Ruairi's last moments from me," she said.

When the boys disappeared on July 28 last year, Chada had told her that he was bringing them bowling for a treat. However, they never returned home and a Garda Child Rescue Alert was issued.

Chada had run up gambling debts, and the court heard that he had used €56,000 from community funds to gamble on the stock market.

Brendan Grehan, SC for the defendant, said Chada found himself in debt of €500,000 at one stage, and secretly borrowed from family and friends.

Separation

The court also heard that Chada had written a number of notes explaining his actions. In a note to his wife, he asked her to bury him with them and said the pain of a separation "was going to be too bad for them".

Chada told gardai he had planned to carry out the murders two days beforehand, and had sought out a secluded spot.

The Deputy State Pathologist Dr Khalid Jabbar carried out a post-mortem examination on their bodies, and found that Eoghan died from asphyxia from ligature strangulation and suffered a blunt force trauma to the head which left him with a fractured skull. While Ruairi's cause of death was asphyxia from ligature strangulation.

Counsel for the defendant said that he chose to plead guilty as he "felt it was the least thing he could do for those who were left". A letter read to the court from him heard that he was truly sorry for the hurt he had caused his wife, his "beloved Kathleen, my best friend, and most important people in my life".

The psychiatric report which was prepared heard that he suffered from "cognitive dissonance", but that it did not qualify him for a defence under the Insanity Act.

Mr Grehan said his client was under suicide watch in the Central Mental Hospital.

Justin Cody, a solicitor acting on behalf of the devastated family, said they were now "learning to live without Eoghan and Ruairi".

Irish Independent