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Australia Cairns: Mother charged with eight murders | Australia Cairns: Mother charged with eight murders |
(35 minutes later) | |
Australian authorities have charged a woman in the northern city of Cairns with the murder of seven of her children and her niece. | Australian authorities have charged a woman in the northern city of Cairns with the murder of seven of her children and her niece. |
Mersane Warria, 37, was charged while in hospital where she is being treated under guard for self-inflicted knife wounds, police say. | |
Post-mortems are being carried out to determine the exact cause of the eight victims' deaths. | Post-mortems are being carried out to determine the exact cause of the eight victims' deaths. |
Those killed were aged between 18 months and 14 years. | Those killed were aged between 18 months and 14 years. |
Police found a number of weapons at the scene, including knives, which are being examined. | |
The bodies were reportedly discovered by the mother's 20-year-old son arriving at the home on Friday morning. | |
Police have dismissed reports the family had been investigated by social services saying it was "not a problem house". | |
Memorials have sprung up outside the home in the Manoora district of Cairns. | |
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement it was an "unspeakable crime". | |
These were "trying days for our country", he added. |