Man who killed his wife and two children handed a life sentence
A 52-year-old man has been handed a life sentence for the murder of his wife and two children.
On December 15, 2022, emergency services were called to Petherton Court, Kettering, to reports that a woman and two children had suffered serious injuries.
Police officers broke the door down in order to gain entry and found Saju Chelavalel holding a knife.
Despite repeated requests for him to put the knife down, he continued to wield it whilst shouting “You shoot me”, resulting in him being Tasered.
The attending officers would go on to find the bodies of Anju Asok, aged 35, and her two children – Jeeva Saju, aged 6, and Janvi Saju, aged 4. After attempts to revive Anju, she was declared dead at the scene and sadly, both children were also declared dead a short time later.
Forensic post-mortem examinations which took place at Leicester Royal Infirmary following their deaths, concluded that all three died as a result of asphyxiation.
At an earlier hearing at Northampton Crown Court in April, Chelavalel pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, returning to the same court on July 3 where he was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 40 years in prison.
During the sentencing hearing, the court heard from the family spokesperson who said: “The life of Anju’s parents and siblings back in India will never be the same without her. She came to this country with a lot of expectations and dreams. She was not expecting a tragic death from her husband, whom she trusted.
“Her only surviving sister and the aunt of Jeeva and Janvi is so traumatised that she hasn’t recovered from this incident’s mental shock and deep scars. Indeed, she was hospitalised for a week in India due to the shock of what happened.”
He also went on to explain how Chelavalel had been trying to contact Anju’s family from prison, resulting in deep upset.
The court also heard from Sarah Powell – the headteacher of Kettering Park Infant Academy, where Jeeva and Janvi attended school. She talked about how difficult it was for the school to lose both the students and how they were valued and much-missed members of the school community.
She said, “I am incredibly proud of how the school community have all worked together to try and understand what has happened and we were privileged to hold a memorial to remember Janvi, Jeeva and their mother Anju with the support of our Trust and Governors.
“We have two colourful benches in our playground to remember them both. Having the two police officers and next of kin present during this memorial meant a lot to our whole school community. The school have also created an album of memories of the children from their time at the school.”
Referring to an audio recording taken at the time of Anju’s death, which was played to the court at sentencing, the Judge – His Honour Mr Justice Pepperall said, “While you were squeezing the life out of your wife, your children can be heard crying in the background for their mummy. It is clear that they heard what was going on and knew that she was being hurt by you.”
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Simon Barnes said, “Anju was a mother like many all over the world. She wanted to provide the best possible life she could for her children – Jeeva and Janvi.
“She has been described by her colleagues and friends as very hard working, conscientious, friendly, kind and will be sorely missed. She was one to never complain and barely missed a shift.
“Both children attended Kettering Park Infant Academy, who have made a beautiful remembrance album. The staff at the school described the children as kind, caring, gentle, playful, polite and smiley. They are much-missed.
“How do you explain to children as young as four that the friends they were playing with only days before, are no longer with us? You shouldn’t have to. No one should. As an adult, detective and father, I cannot comprehend how Saju Chelavalel could do this and don’t think I ever will.
“He has never fully accounted for what he did or why and will now spend the rest of his life with not much else to think about, but that.
“There is no amount of time behind bars that will ever be enough for what he did. His primary role as a husband and a father, was to protect his family from harm. They should have been at their safest, at home, with him, but he destroyed that.
“They leave behind them a devastated family in India, who are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.
“This has been a difficult investigation to bring to this conclusion and I am immensely proud of all those involved. From the moment officers first arrived on scene and commenced CPR on all three victims, to the investigators, scientists, lawyers and everyone in between, I am content that today we have achieved justice for Anju, Jeeva and Janvi.
“I would like to especially thank DC Mark Allbright as the Family Liaison Officer, DC Karen Kennedy as the Case Officer, DS Matt Bly as my Deputy SIO and Mr Manoj Matthew, who was a friend and colleague to Anju, and provided so much support to the police and family in India, including the repatriation of the victims.”
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