Mother of two sons murdered by father describes phone call telling of their deaths

Kathleen Chada says she feels blessed to have been the mother of her two sons.

Her 44-year-old husband Sanjeev, from Ballinkillen in County Carlow, was yesterday handed two life sentences for murdering 10-year-old Eoghan and five-year-old Ruairi on July 29 last year.

He strangled the boys with a rope before making an attempt on his own life by crashing his car into a wall.

Today Kathleen Chada described the phone call she received from Sanjeev, telling her what had happened.

She said: "The fact that I was talking to him lead me to think, 'no, he's exaggerating, they are just quiet', because if he was alive and able to talk to me then in my mind at that moment, then they had to be (still alive).

"All he told me was that they were in the back of the car and I just thought they were in their car seats.

"I don’t even know the time frame, but it was the longest, longest moment waiting for, as I had thought was going to come through, confirmation that the boys were okay and I just needed to get to them in hospital."