Pinay’s Aussie husband convicted for killing kids

SYDNEY (AFP) — An Australian man was found guilty yesterday of murdering his three children to punish their Philippines-born mother for leaving him.

Steven Anthony Fraser, 35, was found guilty of drowning his sons Ryan, five, and Jarrod, four, in the bath of his Sydney apartment in August 2001 after drugging them with the sedative mogadon.

He strangled his daughter Ashley, seven, a day later after she had repeatedly thrown up the sedative.

The New South Wales state Supreme Court was told Fraser confessed to police shortly after his arrest that he murdered the children because his wife Maria Chona had left him.

He pleaded not guilty at the hearing, claiming at the time of the killings he was "impaired by an abnormality of mind arising out of an underlying condition."

A jury took three hours to dismiss the defense and convict him on all counts.

Prosecutors told the court Fraser murdered the children because his wife had started a new relationship and he then set up a "bizarre and disturbing" scene in the apartment before attempting suicide.

His sons’ bodies had the message "I love you, RIP" scrawled on their faces with marker pen and police found a mutilated toy monkey hanging from the living room ceiling. It had a knife through its chest and was smeared with tomato sauce to make it look like blood.

Fraser had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals on several occasions and told police he was "paranoid" about his children being sexually abused because he was molested as a boy.

His wife wept as the verdict was announced and outside the court said she was trying to rebuild her life.

"It’s been really traumatic and I don’t know how I’m going to be, but I’ll try in memory of Ashley, Ryan and Jarrod, you’re going to be proud of me," she told reporters

The court heard she tried to take the children to the Philippines two months before the murders so they could visit relatives for the first time but Fraser took out a court order to stop her, telling her "you can’t go without me."