An American woman charged with murdering two young children in Colorado last December told her 11-year-old daughter, who survived the attack, that God had made her do it, a prosecutor told a London court.
Prosecutor Joel Smith said the girl pleaded for her life and begged for mercy after Kimberly Singler stabbed her and then slashed her again.
The harrowing details emerged as Mr Singler is fighting extradition to the US at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
His lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said Singler denies assaulting the children and he was concerned his daughter’s statement to police had been coerced.
Mr Fitzgerald argued on Friday that Shingler should not be extradited from Britain because he faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder in the US state of Colorado, where the murder occurred – a sentence that would breach European human rights law.
Singler, 36, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for shooting and stabbing his 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son to death, and one count of attempted murder for assaulting his eldest daughter.
She faces additional charges in addition to the assault charges because the children were under 12 years old.
Fitzgerald, who represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his long-running extradition battle against his US counterpart, who is charged with espionage, argued that life without parole is inhumane because it offers no prospect of release even if a person is rehabilitated.
Fitzgerald said Colorado’s governor could commute the sentence, but that would be tantamount to “political suicide,” citing experts who said such a thing has never happened before.
“In Colorado, as a matter of historical and political reality, there is no realistic prospect of release, no matter what progress is made,” Fitzgerald said.
“No matter how bad the crime, they should be given a chance for release.”
As Fitzgerald was wrapping up his arguments, Smith rose to say he had learned of evidence that former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper in 2018 commuted the first-degree murder sentences of six men.
Judge John Zani then adjourned the three-day hearing until December 2nd “in light of potentially significant information” to allow lawyers to review reports about the sentence reduction and make further arguments.
While in custody, Singler sat in the dock and made only statements acknowledging he understood why the trial was continuing.
The hearing focused primarily on the legal issues surrounding the extradition.
Smith offered new details in his opening statement Wednesday.
At the time of the murder, Singler was in a custody battle with her ex-husband, Kevin Wentz, he said.
He was given more time to spend with the children and his wife was ordered to hand them over to him between December 16 and 31, but failed to do so.
Shortly after midnight on Dec. 19, Singler called Colorado Springs police.
Officers found the two youngest children, 7-year-old Aiden Wentz and 9-year-old Eliana “Ellie” Wentz, dead together in bed in the apartment.
They had been shot at and stabbed, Smith said.
Singler’s eldest daughter, identified in court documents only by her initials, MW, suffered serious injuries.
Police said Singler, who suffered a superficial knife wound, was initially considered the victim of a reported robbery.
“She later told police she woke up (Dec. 18) feeling ‘weird’ and ‘groggy,’ and that her children seemed sleepy,” Smith said.
“She suspected that her ex-partner (her children’s father) had murdered or planned to murder them. She said a ‘dark shadow’ had entered her apartment and left her unconscious.”
But Singler’s ex-husband had a solid alibi, Smith said.
He was driving a truck with GPS tracking.
The daughter, who survived the attack, initially told police that a man had entered the home through the patio and attacked her.
But after her wounds healed and she was placed in a foster home, she told her foster parents that her mother was the culprit and had asked her to lie to the police.
Smith said the girl told police Singler gave the children milk laced with pills, then led them into one of the bedrooms while telling them to close their eyes.
“The defendant told her that God had commanded her to do so and that the children’s father would take them away,” Smith said.
DNA testing of the weapon found a mixture that matched the blood of the children and their mother.
Empty bottles of sleeping pills were also found in the house.
After her daughter changed her story, police attempted to arrest Singler in Colorado on December 26, but she had already fled the country.
She was arrested four days later in London’s upmarket Chelsea district.