Joe Fantauzzi, Staff Writer

The trial of Sivananthi Elango, 32, facing two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of her children Renu, 2, and Movlika, three months, continued today in Newmarket. The issue of whether or not Ms Elango was criminally responsible for their deaths in March 2006 is considered central to the case.

Psychiatrist Dr. Hy Bloom, said he believes the Markham woman is at “a fair degree of risk for suicide”, is a “very high” risk for postpartum depression and would pose a danger to her future children if she became pregnant again.

“I believe this woman requires ongoing treatment in a hospital setting,” Dr. Bloom said.

Throughout the doctor’s testimony, Ms Elango shifted through a wide range of positions while sitting in the prisoner’s dock. At different points, she could be seen looking down, wiping her face with a tissue, looking up and hunching over with her hand covering her face.

Between about 5:15 and 6:50 p.m. on March 2, 2006, Ms Elango drowned the children in the ensuite bathroom of their Sofia Road home, according to an agreed statement of facts. Ms Elango also tried to take her own life by cutting her wrists and her neck with a knife and razor blade. She also drank paint thinner and toilet bowl cleaner.

When the grisly scene was discovered that evening, Ms Elango was found in the bathtub unconscious and in serious condition. The children were pronounced dead at Markham Stouffville Hospital.

Ms Elango was assessed by a psychologist in the intensive care unit the next day.

The psychologist wrote Ms Elango said she had been thinking about ending her children’s lives for several weeks and that she could not have her children live the life that she has been forced to live.

The report also shows Ms Elango said she drowned the children believing they were in a better place.

More details about Ms Elango are presented in the agreed statement of facts.

Born in rural Sri Lanka, Ms Elango was the second of four sisters. She was not a healthy child, according to her mother, much of that being due to the poverty the family suffered. Ms Elango left Sri Lanka for Canada in 1989 at 14 to join her father, who had arrived the year before. Within three years, the rest of her family was in Canada. Ms Elango became a Canadian citizen in 1997.

Her sisters didn’t consider her depressed during her teenaged years, but one said she never really “opened up to anyone”, the facts state. Another sister said she read Ms Elango’s diary in which she wrote people didn’t care about her, she was not pretty, no one liked her. She also wrote she was depressed because she had no money to study and that she “hated life”, the statement reads.

She reported being sad her entire life and had tried to commit suicide twice in her late teens by drinking a cleaning product.

She described having suffered abuse at different points, beginning in her childhood, according to the facts. She was also in a car crash in 1998 and suffered a “moderately severe traumatic brain injury”.

Ms Elango married in 1998. The statement of facts claims Ms Elango was beaten.

Renu was born Dec. 19, 2003. Before she was born, Ms Elango worked at Tim Hortons and took maternity leave before returning to her job. Her husband, Vilvaratnam Elango, began accepting unemployment insurance shortly before Ms Elango completed her maternity leave, according to the facts.

In January 2005, Ms Elango became pregnant with Movlika, reporting that “she wanted to have a second child so that Renu would not be alone”. After she became pregnant, the couple fought often and she began thinking about suicide in the sixth month of the pregnancy. The couple separated in about June 2005 and Ms Elango moved in with her family in Scarborough. Between November 2005 and March 2, 2006,

Mr. Elango was unemployed, providing “limited financial support to his family,” the facts state. Ms Elango applied for welfare. In November 2005, Ms Elango moved with her family to the Sofia Road home. Movlika was born Nov. 24, 2006. After her birth, Mr. Elango would occasionally visit the home and stay the night, the facts state.

Ms Elango has no criminal record and no conact with the Children’s Aid Society.

The trial continues.