Australian mother Alyson McConnell drowned her sons in a bath, Canadian court hears
Posted by Neil Keene and David Barrett on February 4th, 2010 | Category: mother murdered child
AN AUSTRALIAN woman who allegedly drowned her two young children in a bath in Canada was trying to bring them back to her home on the NSW Central Coast.
- By Neil Keene and David Barrett
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- February 04, 2010
The 31-year-old suffered multiple broken bones and was taken to hospital in Edmonton, Alberta.
McConnell grew up in Australia but moved overseas to be with her Canadian husband Curtis, whom she married in 2007. Her family's home in Gosford was locked up yesterday but neighbours said she returned to Australia for a holiday last year and seemed in good spirits.
Photos posted on Facebook show an apparently happy visit, with McConnell, her husband and the two boys enjoying a day out at the Australian Reptile Park.
However, Canadian court documents filed in December suggest trouble may had been brewing for some time.
In a sworn affidavit filed on December 11, Mr McConnell raised fears his estranged wife would take their two children Connor, 3, and Jayden, 20 months, and run. "Recently (Allyson) has been threatening me that she wants to move back to Australia with our children," he wrote. "I am completely opposed to this and I am fearful she will attempt to do this without my consent or knowledge."
The affidavit said the pair had split in November but continued to live in the same house with Mr McConnell staying in the basement. He was seeking joint custody of the children, or sole custody if his wife decided to move back to Australia.
Mr McConnell returned home on Monday afternoon to find the two boys' lifeless bodies in the bathroom.
Mr McConnell's cousin Jason said Curtis was "hanging in there but not doing that great".
A family friend and neighbour told the Edmonton Journal that he showed up at her door "hysterical".
"I've never seen him like that. At first I didn't believe him," she said.
But after going into the house she discovered the boys' "cold and stiff" bodies on the bathroom floor.
Residents in the small town of Millet, population 2000, where the family lived said the family was well-known and liked.
Late yesterday Mr McConnell posted five pictures of his children on a Facebook page dedicated to his sons.
Comments (2)
I made these remarks in my own blog with respect to Overington and sent a letter to the editor at "The Australian which, as usual they didn't print.
Overington is a pro-maternalist, pro-feminist journalist, whose knowledge of Canada is best summed up as illiterate.
This death is a tragedy but its another case of a biological Father ordered out of his home and required to pay all its expenses and child support even though they had been performing equal care of the children.
Its another case of a misandrist, chivalrous, eunuch judge targeting a man and ending up being a party to the death of two innocents. They don't get it!
Dear Editor:
Ms. Overington's biases are being worn on her sleeve again. She proffers "HIS greatest fear was that his estranged wife would take his children from their home in a tiny, snowy town in Canada, and run away to Australia." She is deriding small towns, snow and Canada all in one short sentence and implying some sympathy for the mom. Her maternal sympathies are not new.
She doesn't really know much about Canada as she indicates "Canada has a shared parenting law similar to Australia's, although the role played by parents before separation carries greater weight." In a previous column she described our geographical/political makeup as States rather than Provinces. Canada has no such shared parenting law but we are hopeful Bill C-422 will become so. Compared to Australia Canada is in the dark ages of family law reform. Ninety percent of physical custody is granted to moms and about 8% to dads.
I note she has not given credit for much of the column but it is almost verbatim in spots from Canadian press reports of the tragedy. Is plagiarism normally overlooked at the Australian. I direct you to { Link } { Link }
Australia is very advanced in coming to terms with the Family as the bed rock of a civilized society and should be proud of its achievements. We have much to learn from your 2006 initiatives and are watching the reaction to the recent reports on the Family Law reviews carefully.
Children deserve both fit parents in their lives after divorce just as they had them while married.
Mike Murphy
I heard that Caroline Overington wants to blame the double murder of these children by the mother in Canada on Australia's shared parenting laws too........