A mother's descent into alcoholism drove her two teenage daughters to drown her in a bathtub, court heard Monday as the eldest girl recounted her crimes in dramatic videotaped evidence presented during the first day of their trial.
Life at home for the girl, her sister and younger brother had become so intolerable it became a matter of a choice between "me or her," the girl told a family friend who worked secretly with police to tape the conversation.
"Only four minutes . . .that's how long I held her head under water for. After that she just kept convulsing and twitching," the girl says on the tape.
"It was a solution to the worst situation . . .beside me slitting my veins. It was a way to heal her and end everything."
It's alleged the sisters, who were 15 and 16 at the time, planned their mother's death in January 2003 by making sure she was drunk when she took her bath. Both girls have pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder.
"On these tapes both (girls) are caught confessing to a friend that they deliberately drown their mother in a bathtub," Prosecutor Michael Cantlon told the court during opening statements.
"While their mother was heavily intoxicated, they had her consume Tylenol 3, walked her to the bathroom and helped her into the tub."
On Monday the prosecution played the videotape of the older girl, in which she says she acted alone in her mother's death but that her sister was aware of her actions.
"Me (and my sister) were both suffering so much. It's just I took the initiative, she didn't do anything to stop me," she said.
"How were we supposed to keep living the way we were? It was just so bad."
After the drowning, the two girls went to a restaurant near their home in Mississauga, Ont., a suburban city west of Toronto, to hatch their alibi, court heard.
Neither the mother nor her daughters can be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The sisters, now 18 and 19, are free on bail and living under house arrest.
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1107slain-mom07-ON.html
Life at home for the girl, her sister and younger brother had become so intolerable it became a matter of a choice between "me or her," the girl told a family friend who worked secretly with police to tape the conversation.
"Only four minutes . . .that's how long I held her head under water for. After that she just kept convulsing and twitching," the girl says on the tape.
"It was a solution to the worst situation . . .beside me slitting my veins. It was a way to heal her and end everything."
It's alleged the sisters, who were 15 and 16 at the time, planned their mother's death in January 2003 by making sure she was drunk when she took her bath. Both girls have pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder.
"On these tapes both (girls) are caught confessing to a friend that they deliberately drown their mother in a bathtub," Prosecutor Michael Cantlon told the court during opening statements.
"While their mother was heavily intoxicated, they had her consume Tylenol 3, walked her to the bathroom and helped her into the tub."
On Monday the prosecution played the videotape of the older girl, in which she says she acted alone in her mother's death but that her sister was aware of her actions.
"Me (and my sister) were both suffering so much. It's just I took the initiative, she didn't do anything to stop me," she said.
"How were we supposed to keep living the way we were? It was just so bad."
After the drowning, the two girls went to a restaurant near their home in Mississauga, Ont., a suburban city west of Toronto, to hatch their alibi, court heard.
Neither the mother nor her daughters can be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The sisters, now 18 and 19, are free on bail and living under house arrest.
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1107slain-mom07-ON.html